Economic developers who spend time working with their employers to solve staffing issues may have a new challenge in store. On average, estimates are that one in 20 people in the U.S. workforce are unauthorized immigrants, though the numbers vary widely from state to state, with a high of 8.6% in Nevada to a low of .5% in Montana, per the Pew Charitable Trust’s most recent research.
No doubt, there are wide variations within each state, and not all industries are equally impacted. In construction and agriculture, sources such as the American Immigration Council say that in several occupations the share of jobs filled by unauthorized immigrants ranges from 25%-39%.
Whatever your point of view on this matter, if you are an economic developer or workforce development professional, it’s probably time to check in with your industries and localize your data.