Businesses in US Struggle to Find Mexican Workers Miriam Jordan and Santiago Perez - MarketWatch
go to original November 28, 2016

Immigration from Mexico was a hot-button issue on the presidential campaign trail. But some business owners, like Joe Hargrave, are struggling to hire enough staff because of a shortage of workers from Mexico. (The Wall Street Journal)

As hiring accelerates and the labor market tightens thanks to a steady U.S. recovery, employers who need low-skilled workers are increasingly struggling to fill vacancies. One big reason: Mexican workers, who form the labor backbone of industries like hospitality, construction and agriculture, are in short supply.

President-elect Donald Trump said on the campaign trail that he would deport immigrants who are here illegally and build a wall to prevent new ones from sneaking in. He recently softened his stance, saying that he would focus on removing undocumented criminals, at least initially.

Many business owners who rely on low-skilled labor say the real trouble is too few Mexicans heading north, not too many. “Without Mexican labor our industry is at a standstill,” says Nelson Braddy Jr., the owner of King of Texas Roofing Co., which is helping build a sprawling new Toyota North American headquarters in a Dallas suburb. He says he would hire 60 roofers right away if he could find them. “It’s the worst I have seen in my career,” he adds.

Annual inflows of undocumented immigrants from Mexico have slowed to about 100,000 a year since 2009, from about 350,000 a year in the mid-2000s and more than half a million in the late 1990s and early 2000s, estimates the Pew Research Center. Apprehensions by the U.S. Border Patrol of Mexicans and other foreigners entering illegally declined to 337,117 last year, the least since 1971.

“Mass migration from Mexico is over,” says Pia Orrenius, senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, who studies migration. “Low-skilled labor will never be as plentiful again.”

Read the rest at MarketWatch

Related: Small Business Owners Say There Aren't Enough Mexicans in the U.S., Not Too Many (TIME)

Related: Mexican Businesses Report Worsening Crime as Violence Grows (Reuters)

Related: Sorry, Trump Supporters, But the U.S. Economy Needs More Immigrants (MarketWatch)

Related: The Mexican Peso's Crash Is Hurting Some US Companies (Markets Insider)

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