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ImmigrationProf Blog
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Immigrants and the Construction Industry

By immigrationprof

Guest Blog by Chuck Lorrell:

Construction 
How New Immigration Laws Affect the Construction Industry

New immigration laws meant to increase employment opportunities for Americans, such as the one recently passed in Alabama, can actually have a negative impact on labor-intensive industries such as construction.
 
This has been noted by many experts in business and economics such as Jeremy Thornton, an associate professor of economics at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. In an article from the Birmingham News, Thornton spoke of the fact that undocumented immigrants often find work in the construction industry, which offers low-paid jobs in manual labor that many Americans don’t want to do.

Similar to the controversial Legal Arizona Workers Act of 2007, the Alabama law allows law enforcement officers to arrest and detain anyone they suspect to be an illegal immigrant. It also makes it a crime to hire undocumented immigrants and gives the state the power to shut down businesses that hire undocumented workers.

While this law purports to provide more job opportunities for American citizens, it will also have a negative effect on employers in labor industries like construction which often employ undocumented immigrants. The cost of worker recruitment will increase and American workers will likely expect higher wages.

The Alabama law and others like it also require federal, state, and private construction projects to use the “E-Verify” system, which electronically checks to see if a worker’s social security number matches their name. While E-Verify is already required on federally-funded projects in every state, certain states including Alabama, Arizona, Mississippi, and South Carolina now require the system on all projects.  In addition, Colorado, Georgia, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, and Utah require it for state projects. Due to the variation in these laws, it is important for contractors to stay updated on the regulations in their specific state, as a mistake could be costly.

Chuck Lorrell is a construction management enthusiast who writes about various topics including everything related to construction and is the owner of the site  http://www.constructionmanagementdegree.com.

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