Contractors group supports Trump on immigration plan
Leaders of the Associated General Contractors of America, lamenting a shortage of skilled labor in their ranks, came out in support of President Donald Trump’s immigration proposal, saying it offered “needed relief.”
“The President rightly understands that the nation’s immigration must allow for more skilled workers, including those with construction skills, to legally join the workforce if our economy is to continue to expand,” Stephen E. Sandherr, the association’s chief executive officer, said in an emailed statement. “And while this measure does not tackle broader immigration challenges, such as addressing workers already in the country, it does continue the discussion about reforming our broken immigration system.”
Trump on May 16 proposed making it more difficult for immigrants to bring family to live with them, instead emphasizing immigration for people with specific
skillsets.
The trade group, which represents more than 26,000 construction-related businesses, has been calling for immigration reform as a way to allow the industry to continue to expand.
Texas added the most constructions jobs of any state over the past year — 32,500, an increase of 4.4 percent. The association said the state would have added even more if there were more workers to hire and called for immigration reform to boost the supply.
“Construction employment rose in most states over the past year, yet the record number of job openings at the end of March implies contractors would add even more workers if they could,” Ken Simonson, AGCA’s chief economist, said in an emailed statement.
Thirty-two states added construction jobs between March and April, but, Simonson argued, “The count of states with rising construction employment in the latest month would be still higher if more workers were available.”
Mark Frank, a labor economist at Sam Houston State University said the potential impact of Trump’s proposal depends on the details. “Merit based on what?” he asked.
“There are a lot of areas where we lack skilled workers,” Frank said, citing medicine, science, technology and engineering as examples. “The immigration of high-skilled workers all over the map would benefit us enormously.”
Indeed, Trump was vague in his remarks and did not mention construction explicitly.
“Under the senseless rules of the current system,” Trump said in his remarks in the Rose Garden, “we’re not able to give preference to a doctor, a researcher, a student who graduated No. 1 in his class from the finest colleges in the world — anybody. We’re not able to take care of it. We’re not able to make those incredible breakthroughs. If somebody graduates top of their class from the best college, sorry, go back to your country. We want to keep them here.”
But the Associated General Contractors of America, which has called on Congress and Trump to include construction jobs in immigration reform legislation, says the government’s definition of skilled workers will likely include construction workers such as welders and electricians.
“Contractors face an ever-increasing challenge to find enough qualified workers to hire to keep pace with the ongoing demand for construction,” said Sandherr. “Allowing employers to bring in guest workers for positions that can’t be filled otherwise is essential for keeping construction on track.”
Many do not believe Trump’s proposal will gain traction, partially, as Sandherr mentioned, because it does not address workers already in the country such as those protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
However, Sandherr called the proposal part of an ongoing conversation about the immigration that he hoped will lead to a solution.
“In the meantime, we look forward to working with Congress and the administration to make sure a final immigration measure helps meet the workforce needs of the construction industry and addresses broader immigration challenges,” he said.