Hiring expert warns Trump's immigration plan could force 'massive shift' within critical workforce
One business leader in the construction industry is preparing for a "new wave" of workers as President-elect Donald Trump’s immigration plans could remove millions of employees.
"The message here is if you're a construction company, and you're hiring: hire better, hire faster, hire sooner. The labor market here is going to see a massive shift," Contractor Consultants founder and CEO Matt DiBara said on "Varney & Co." Tuesday.
"We're talking about big numbers here, in excess of 1.5 million workers."
Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that in 2023, foreign-born workers were more likely than native-born workers to be employed in service occupations, which include construction, natural resources and maintenance operations.
From 2022 to 2023, the percentage of migrant workers in service occupations surged from 15% to 21.8%.
President-elect Trump repeatedly promised throughout his 2024 presidential campaign to launch a historic mass deportation operation. In the days since the election, those plans have been put into motion, with officials looking at where they could build additional detention space.
"Locally, you're seeing construction companies react to policy, right? So they're controlling what they can control," DiBara reacted, "which is better hiring practices and making the industry look more appealing."
"And what you're doing is you're attracting a new generation of workforce. We're seeing more women enter the workforce; we're seeing Gen Z being more drawn to the construction industry," he expanded. "So we're seeing a shift where the construction industry as a whole, it's an entire new wave of outlook for the industry where blue-collar has an opportunity that we haven't seen before."
Though, it’s a "tricky situation," DiBara admitted, as he cited additional data showing 1 in 3 mason roofers were undocumented immigrants in 2022.
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"We've built an entire system that's used to this. And so, if we are going to make this change… Let's understand how this is going to affect the industry," the CEO said.
"Because frankly, with 40% of the entire workforce expected to retire over the next decade, I mean, we have to find a way to fill this gap."
Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report.