Wednesday, September 6, 2006

Nashville builders talk about expatriate workers

The Nashville Business Journal reports in this article on the viewpoints of Nashville builders about immigration and workers from other countries:

"'Go to any job site and you'll see, if not the majority, there's a large number of Hispanic workers on the job,' says Pete Dickson, the new president of the Mid-Tennessee Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors. ABC is a national organization that last fall adopted a statement calling for a temporary guest worker program that could include undocumented workers already in the country. While calling for stricter border enforcement, ABC's position paper said the immigrant work force meets a need."

"'Elimination of this workforce is not an option,' the group said. 'Construction, among many U.S. industries, would come to a halt without the existence of this workforce in the current numbers.'"

"A 2005 report by the non-partisan Pew Hispanic Center said 17 percent of unauthorized migrants in the American labor force work in the construction industry, and that 10 percent of the total construction employees in the United States are unauthorized migrants. Tennessee, the report said, was one of 17 states where unauthorized migrants make up 40 percent or more of the total foreign-born population."

Focus: Business

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