“Immigration” has been a buzzword for years, especially under the two Trump administrations, and a new report shows that one-fifth of one Utah industry’s work force consists of foreign-born people.
Utah’s construction industry has 25,893 such workers, according to a study by online publication Construction Coverage, which used data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2023 American Community Survey five-year estimates.
That puts their industry percentage in the state at 19.7 percent, based on total industry employment of 131,155, putting Utah at No. 19 among states. That compares with 12.6 percent of all workers in the state who are foreign-born.
For the nation, foreign-born workers in the construction industry account for 26 percent of the total workforce in the industry, or nearly 2.9 million among a total of 11 million construction workers. Among all workers in all industries, foreign-born workers account for 18.7 percent.
The share of national foreign-born workers in the industry has trended upward for more than a decade, rebounding after the Great Recession, the report states. In several major metro areas, the figure tops 50 percent. In 2009, immigrants made up 23.3 percent of all construction industry employees. The total also grew, jumping from over 2.4 million to nearly 2.9 million in 2023.
“This suggests a gradual but sustained increase in the industry’s reliance on foreign-born workers — a shift that continued through the economic recovery after the Great Recession and into the post-pandemic construction boom,” the report states. It also noted that as federal immigration enforcement ramps up, certain markets “could see crews thin out, costs climb and key projects delayed.”
The heaviest concentration of foreign-born workers in construction is among drywallers, at nearly 57 percent. Drywallers, roofers and painters have immigrants making up over half of the nation’s workers in those trades. Other high-dependence roles include flooring and tile installers and construction laborers. “These roles represent a large portion of on-site construction work and are among the most physically intensive occupations in the industry,” it says.
By total headcount, the largest group of foreign-born employees nationally are construction laborers, with 754,476 immigrant workers nationwide. Carpenters (364,941) and painters and paperhangers (250,940) also account for a significant portion of the workforce.
Among states, the percentage of foreign-born construction workers is highest in California, at 41.5 percent of the construction total. Meanwhile, Montana, Maine and Vermont have less than 3.5 percent of construction industry employees that are foreign-born.
“As federal immigration enforcement intensifies, industries that depend heavily on foreign-born workers are beginning to feel the strain. One of the most exposed is the U.S. construction sector, where immigrants — both documented and undocumented — make up a substantial share of the workforce,” the report states. “These workers are integral not only to residential and commercial building projects, but also to the maintenance and repair of the nation’s aging infrastructure.”
The Construction Coverage report covers over 260 U.S. metros and all 50 states.