NAHB Chairman Rick Judson urged Congress to implement a market-based visa system that would allow more immigrants to legally enter the construction workforce each year in his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act (S. 744).
According to a recent NAHB member survey, 46 percent of builders surveyed were unable to complete projects on time due to labor shortages. There are 116,000 unfilled positions in the construction sector-a post-recession high, the association reported.
"Despite our efforts to recruit and train American workers through the HBI Job Corps program and other programs, our industry faces a very real impediment to full recovery if work is delayed or even cancelled due to worker shortages," Judson said. "A new, workable visa program would complement our skills training efforts within the nation's borders, and fill the labor gaps needed to meet the nation's housing needs."
However, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. unemployment rate in the construction industry was 14.7 percent in March 2013, which means approximately 1.2 million people are actively looking for work in the construction sector.
Judson expressed specific concerns about the W Visa program. The 8.5 percent unemployment trigger would reduce the number of visas available when the overall unemployment rate exceeds that magic number. Judson argued that this policy does not take into account the fact that "immigrant workers and native-born workers perform jobs that are independent."
Prevailing wages, Judson said, would require too much extra work for private small businesses to take advantage of the visa program.
Finally, a complete portability stipulation would give W Visa holders the ability to quit and begin working elsewhere starting on their first day. NAHB believes that it is only fair that employers have some assurances that after navigating a confusing and expensive process, the visa holder will actually have to show up and work for the employer who sponsored the worker, especially considering the 15,000 visa cap placed on the construction industry.
"First and foremost, the program wrongly singles out the construction industry with a discriminating set of rules, including an arbitrary and meager cap that not only ignores but rejects the value of the housing industry to the nation's GDP," Judson said. "Our industry, which in normal times accounts for more than 17 percent of the nation's total economic output, should be afforded the same opportunities as any other sector of the economy. Congress must reassess this critical flaw in the legislation."
