This nation of immigrants now more than ever needs more immigrants

Local business leaders are sounding the alarm about a severe threat to Las Vegas’ economic health and vitality. A shortage of more than 100,000 construction workers is crippling the region’s ability to build new homes, new businesses and new infrastructure that are vital for Las Vegas’ continued growth and prosperity.

At a panel discussion co-hosted by the Latin Chamber of Commerce and the Nevada Office of New Americans, participants were unified in saying that the answer to Las Vegas’ impending economic crisis lies in immigration reform and streamlined access to work permits for undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers.

The shortage of builders and construction workers mirrors that of other industries across the region and throughout the United States. Despite right-wing rhetoric about immigrants “stealing” American jobs, data show that immigrants are filling the gap created by an American population that is aging out of the workforce and is more highly educated than previous generations.

With Gen X, millennials and Gen Z finding the higher-paying jobs that require a college degree to be more attractive than manual labor, it is unskilled labor that is increasingly filled by immigrants that keeps the economy running.

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, even if every able-bodied working-age unemployed person in the country found a job immediately, there would still be nearly 2.4 million unfilled positions in the United States. That’s in part because 17% of the people who left the workforce since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic retired permanently and aren’t coming back. This is a simple and inevitable reality as baby boomers retire and younger generations lack the numbers to replace them.

Another 19% have transitioned to being full-time homemakers or caretakers for children, parents or loved ones — a symptom of the rapidly increasing costs of child care and in-home care. Those individuals may someday return to the workforce, but it could be years in the future, if ever.

The scale of the worker shortage is enormous, but is particularly pronounced in construction, hospitality, food service and agriculture, all of which play a significant role in Nevada’s economy. They are also sectors that rely heavily on immigrant labor.

According to a 2023 Washington Post analysis of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey, 30% of construction workers and 24% of hospitality, accommodation and food services workers were born outside of the United States.

In Nevada, those numbers are even higher.

While foreign-born workers make up 17% of the U.S. labor force generally, in Nevada, foreign-born workers are 25% of the labor force, including 43% of hotel doormen, porters and front desk staff; 51% of restaurant line cooks and 74% of hotel housekeepers, according to the American Immigration Council.

If you’re getting the idea that the engine that runs Las Vegas’ economy is fueled by working immigrants, welcome to a world guided by facts instead of angry fantasies about immigration.

These hardworking immigrants are our friends and neighbors. Many of them have lived in Southern Nevada for decades and have strong ties to our local communities. They pay taxes and contribute to the local economy. The Strip that drives the tourism industry doesn’t get built without them and it doesn’t run without them.

Moreover, lacking 100,000 construction workers means important expansion of our economy is held hostage. Every small-businessperson in Las Vegas has a stake in this and will be hurt unless these jobs are filled. Those workers buy locally, will rent or own homes, pay taxes and set down roots in our community, fueling growth.

Immigrants, documented or not, have long formed the backbone of the U.S. economy. But for them to benefit from the opportunity of coming to America and for us to benefit from their presence here, they must be allowed to legally work.

Yet obtaining legal authorization to work in the U.S. is nearly impossible for undocumented immigrants, even if they are among the 1.1 million undocumented people who are married to U.S. citizens or are among the 4.9 million “Dreamers” who were brought to the United States as children, with no say or opportunity to apply for citizenship.

Even for those who do try to come legally, the road is filled with unnecessary barriers.

Migrants arriving in the U.S. and applying for legal asylum must wait at least six months to apply for legal work authorization. After being in the U.S. and unemployed for six months, they must pay a $410 fee and fill out a long application that may take several more months, or even years, to be processed. All the while, they still can’t work legally or earn money to support themselves or their family.

To his credit, President Joe Biden has taken some steps to help alleviate the problem. In September, he expanded a designation known as temporary protected status in order to grant 472,000 Venezuelan migrants a streamlined path to obtaining a work permit. But 472,000 is a far cry from the millions of workers the U.S. Chamber of Commerce says we need.

That’s why we’re calling on the Biden administration to authorize work permits for other long-established categories of people in the United States, including the spouses of American citizens, Dreamers and undocumented immigrants who have been in the U.S. for over 10 years without any non-immigration-related criminal conviction.

We also strongly support the efforts of U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-nev., who has long advocated for streamlining the process by which undocumented immigrants can apply for permanent resident status and thus gain access to a work permit.

These solutions are essential to the continued economic success and vitality of our region, our state and the country as a whole. They are also the right thing to do for people who want little more than the legal right to pursue the American dream by working hard, building strong ties to our communities, and contributing to our economy.

The scale of the worker shortage is enormous, but is particularly pronounced in construction, hospitality, food service and agriculture, all of which play a significant role in Nevada’s economy.