Aging workforce, immigration crackdown are depleting skilled workers

Contractors across the country say they cannot find enough plumbers, electricians, and carpenters, and a September survey from the Association of General Contractors found worker shortages are now the leading cause of construction delays. The group points to three forces at once: an aging workforce, a data-center building boom pulling labor in new directions, and immigration enforcement thinning out a trade where more than half of workers were born outside the U.S.

Roofing contractors surveyed by John Burns Real Estate and Consulting described the effect in blunter terms, with one Texas contractor saying there are no American kids willing to install roofs and a Florida roofer blaming both deportations and a complacent next generation. The National Roofing Contractors Association says immigration reform and better trade education are now top priorities for the industry.

DHS, asked about the complaints, offered an unattributed statement saying it will keep enforcing the law and removing people here illegally, without addressing the labor shortage its own enforcement is accused of worsening. Meanwhile a federal judge appointed by Trump has already stayed one enforcement practice, warrantless site entries, after at least one U.S. citizen construction worker said he'd been detained three times despite carrying a Florida driver's license.

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