Increased Immigration Enforcement Could Hurt Already Weak Labor Pool

In the Floor Covering News article, “Increased Immigration Enforcement Could Hurt Already Weak Labor Pool,” David Jones and Davis Bae are quoted. Major changes in U.S. immigration policy are impacting the workforce across many industries. Enforcement efforts are being stepped up to ensure employers are not hiring unauthorized workers, moves that stand to have a significant impact on sectors where the labor pool is already shallow. 

“By ending DACA, the [Trump] administration will slowly be taking 800,000 workers out of the workforce,” said David. “Similarly, the possible ending of TPS for various countries, including El Salvador, which includes 195,000 individuals, will have a similar impact on the workforce.” 

The number of foreign-born workers rose to 27 million in 2016 and represents nearly 17% of the nation’s labor force, the National Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. But considering an estimated 11 million unauthorized immigrants live in the U.S., there is a fair chance an employer has undocumented workers. “Typically, companies in manufacturing, hospitality, construction and public safely are targets,” said Davis. “While most audits are random, some occur based upon leads to ICE.” 

To read the full article, visit Floor Covering News.