That immigrant home buyers have helped push the U.S. ownership rate to record levels has been well documented. But what has gone largely unnoticed is the major contribution foreign-born workers have played in helping builders sustain their unusually high production levels over the last seven years.

In fact, based on Census Bureau data, the National Association of Home Builders estimates that if immigrants weren't so heavily involved in the construction trades, far fewer houses would be built every year. In other words, the housing sector, which already is suffering from a shortage of skilled labor -- not to mention some key building products, which we will in a moment -- would have been severely crippled without foreign nationals to take up some of the slack.

According to the NAHB's David Crowe, one out of every seven -- 14.4 percent -- construction workers were born in another country. That's 2 percentage points greater participation than in other occupations, a "significant" difference, says Crowe. "If immigrants participated in construction jobs at the same level as in all other jobs, there would be 117,000 fewer workers in construction, which is enough to build over 100,000 single-family homes."

Home builders have become so dependent on foreign workers that the NAHB has investigated the possibility of increasing immigration quotas and carving out preferences for construction workers. But staff concluded that it would be "very difficult" to get foreign workers admitted, even on a temporary basis, because of a labor shortage potential, and that the chances of changing the rules so that foreign construction workers were granted priority status was even less likely.

In studying Census Bureau data, Crowe found that non-natives hold one out of four painter jobs and nearly one in five bricklayer positions. There also are more foreign-born carpenters than in the other building trades. But immigrants are less likely to join the electrician and plumbing trades, which are usually unionized.

Mexico, the origin of 44 percent of all immigrant construction workers, is by far the largest source of foreign labor for builders. Therefore, not surprisingly, the largest concentration of alien workers are in areas closest to the Mexican. For example, they hold 31 percent of the jobs in the Pacific region -- California, Washington, Oregon, Hawaii and Alaska -- and 18 percent in the West South Central region -- Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.

On the other hand, immigrant participation in housing construction is unusually low in the East South Central -- Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky -- and West North Central -- Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota and the Dakotas -- regions.

About what about those shortages of gypsum, insulation and a few other important products? They're driving builders crazy, too. In fact, some say they're missing promised delivery dates by four weeks or longer. It's their own fault, though. They've been selling houses so fast that makers just can't keep up with demand.

"Our plants are running full-out, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but we just can't crank it out fast enough," says Jerry Walker of the Gypsum Association, a Washington-based trade group representing the 15 domestic and Canadian manufacturers of gypsum, a.k.a. drywall or wallboard.

Together, these companies operate nearly 90 plants. Last year, they shipped about 30.5 billion square feet of drywall. That's more than "measured capacity," says Walker. But it wasn't enough to keep pace with construction.

To meet demand, some makers have re-opened plants shuttered during the last housing downturn. Others have added new production lines, and some are building new plants for the first time in a decade. But unless new home sales slow drastically, shortages should continue to slow construction. Builders may even have to jack up their prices.

Published: May 31, 1999

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