Do you have any evidence to back that up? I don't follow the industry and don't know much about it. There's plenty of complaining on right-wing, anti-immigrant sites, but as you might guess, I don't give much weight to that.
If you look at the annual percentage change in non-supervisory construction wages in recent years, things were improving in the 1990s, slowed down for a few years, perhaps because of immigrant labor, I dunno, shot up when the economy collapsed as last-hired, lower-wage workers were let go, fell back down as the economy recovered and employment increased, and have done OK for the past two years — up 2.4% annually with very low inflation.
View attachment 67199959
A few years ago, undocumented workers held about one job in seven in construction/extraction.
View attachment 67199960
But according to Commerce Department data, if you look at just workers from Mexico, "many of the workers who went back to Mexico during the real estate crisis haven't returned to work in the U.S. due to tighter immigration controls — both for those entering legally and those not — and comparable job opportunities in some Mexican states with improving economies." ("
How an Immigration Downturn Has Contributed to the Construction-Worker Shortage,"
WSJ, Sept 21, 2015
View attachment 67199961
That doesn't bode well for a home-building industry that increasingly has cited labor shortages among the factors deterring greater production of late.
Builders differ on whether higher pay is needed to lure workers back into the industry, be they Mexican or American. Roy Weatherford, owner of Apex Foundation LLC, which pours foundations, driveways and sidewalks in the Houston area, is among those who don't see pay as the issue. He sees the answer in more recruitment and training to bring young people into the industry, rather than trying to lure back workers who left.
“One thing we're noticing here in the Houston market is that the workers from Mexico are not coming back," Mr. Weatherford said. "There is work in Mexico. They've opened plants in Mexico. Look how many car manufacturers have moved to Mexico. They can work there, and if they're making a living, they’d all rather be home."
In the Denver market, John Van Dyk's Van Dyk Construction Inc. builds frames for about 700 homes each year. He agreed that Mexican-born construction workers are finding work outside of the U.S., but he added that there are still some who would return.
"Supposedly, there's work farther south, in South America, Honduras and places like that that aren't as hard to get to," Mr. Van Dyk said. "I still feel like there is labor there that is willing to come here if we got immigration [policy] figured out. Most of my guys who are immigrants tell me that they could get labor if they were allowed."
Immigration policy is a hotly debated topic among presidential candidates with the election still more than a year away. In their report, Messrs. Burns and Porter steered clear of suggesting any changes to immigration policy. Rather, their report cites numerous data points indicating a less hospitable environment in the U.S. in recent years for Mexican migration, legal or illegal.
Their report notes Commerce Department figures showing a 67% decline in immigration to the U.S. from Mexico from 2006 to 2013. Employers' use of the E-Verify online system for verifying employment eligibility has risen from almost nothing in 2001 to more than 27 million employment checks last year. — same source
