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Trump Immigration Crackdown Leads to Higher Construction Wages


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2017 Aug 7, 11:47am   1,571 views  4 comments

by zzyzzx   ➕follow (5)   💰tip   ignore  

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/08/02/texas-home-builders-relying-on-immigrant-labor-feel-effects-immigrant-crackdown.html

NAHB says the problems started when the recession hit and domestic construction workers dropped out of the market to find other jobs. At the same time, immigrant workers went back to their home countries. But as the economy has picked up and the construction industry has heated up, those workers have remained missing.

The problem is compounded in hot real estate markets where more and more housing projects are finding fewer and fewer workers. In places like North Texas, recently, it's been a triple whammy.

"Half of the workers in construction in Texas are undocumented," Marek said. "We do hear that there are a lot of undocumented workers that are leaving the state, going to other states that don't have the anti-immigrant sentiment and many of them are going back to Mexico."

Ted Wilson with Residential Strategies, Inc. has run the numbers.

"We've seen direct construction costs climb by over 30 percent," Wilson said, "and a lot of that is directly attributed to what builders are having to pay their subs and trades in wages."

Meaning, with so few workers out there, construction companies have had to pay more to attract them, which adds to the cost of a home.

Comments 1 - 4 of 4        Search these comments

1   zzyzzx   2017 Aug 7, 11:48am  

Why do Democrats hate American construction workers?

2   zzyzzx   2017 Aug 7, 11:50am  

Here's to the re-emerging middle class!

3   MisdemeanorRebel   2017 Aug 7, 12:11pm  

Opportunity for Native-Born Americans: AKA the Deploreables, aka the ones told to "just accept it and shove their dreams up their ass and die of Pain Killer abuse" by the Elite Establishment.

4   Shaman   2017 Aug 7, 6:30pm  

Thanks for explaining. I concur with the idea that retail is in trouble, though I think it will be only scaled back or changed in fundamental ways, not eliminated. This is for the simple reason that women LOVE to shop! As men, we consistently downplay the importance of shopping to women.

I'm not sure about the stock market. We may see a fall, but I doubt we will see as huge a correction as 2008. If we do then great! I will be buying as much as possible to take advantage of the absolutely inevitable upswing. Again, this by itself won't cause a major recession. The last one didn't either. It was the crashing of the short term paper market that caught retailers flat footed because their business models depended on it. This had a domino effect which suppressed demand and caused widespread layoffs.

Housing is pretty solid, although overwrought markets like the Bay Area might have trouble should the tech industry move hubs for economic reasons.

Finally, the working age population graph is leveling off and about to drop. I concur, but assert that this is the Boomer retirement causing the demographic shift.

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