Trump immigration crackdown could worsen construction worker shortage

Construction Labor Shortage Alert: Industry Needs 439,000 New Workers

Key Insights:

* The construction sector requires 439,000 workers this year to meet the demand

* Immigrants comprise 26% of the construction workforce, with 13% undocumented

* Immigration trends significantly impact worker availability

Urgent Factors:

* Los Angeles rebuilding needs after fires

* Upcoming nationwide data center construction surge

* Potential immigration policy changes could constrain labor supply

Industry Response:

* Associated Builders and Contractors attracting young workers, including high school graduates

* Trade group continues pushing for immigration reform

Economic Implications:

* Workforce shortage could drive up construction costs

* Some projects may become financially unfeasible without adequate labor

U.S. companies that scale back workplace diversity efforts to avoid scrutiny from the Trump administration may be exposing themselves to more discrimination lawsuits by workers, experts said.

President Donald Trump this week issued a sweeping executive order directing federal agencies to terminate diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and encouraging private companies to do the same. Trump ordered all agencies to identify potential targets for civil investigations, who could then be subjected to legal action.

Some companies have already ended or scaled back DEI initiatives in response to conservative backlash, legal threats, and Trump's November election victory, and more are expected to follow suit.

But many common corporate policies that fall under the DEI umbrella, such as auditing pay practices, requiring diverse pools of job candidates, and ensuring that promotions are awarded fairly are crucial tools for employers to ensure compliance with state and federal laws banning workplace bias, lawyers and other experts said.

“When companies are sued by women or people of color and they're held liable for discrimination ... the Trump administration can't save them and nothing in this executive order can save them," said Jason Solomon, director of the National Institute for Workers' Rights, a left-leaning think tank.

To be sure, some lawyers who represent companies and critics of diversity programs pushed back on the claim that DEI is critical to complying with employment laws, saying diversity initiatives were just as likely to cause discrimination as to prevent it.

"It comes down to making personnel decisions for legitimate, non-discriminatory business-related reasons. That is the best balancing factor there can be," said Gerald Maatman, a Chicago-based lawyer who defends companies in bias cases and class actions.

DEI policies became more widespread after nationwide protests in 2020 of police killings of unarmed Black people, spurring a conservative backlash and an increase in the number of "reverse discrimination" lawsuits mostly by white, male, and heterosexual workers.

But those cases are far outnumbered by the thousands of more traditional discrimination lawsuits filed in state and federal courts each year. Getting rid of diversity and equity policies could lead companies to inadvertently violate anti-bias laws and invite more scrutiny from workers and their lawyers, experts said.

Scaling back recruiting efforts for diverse job candidates, for example, could lead to claims that women, people of color, or LGBTQ people were not considered for jobs and promotions. Employers who stop conducting comprehensive pay audits may not be aware of discrepancies, such as gaps in pay for men and women, that could trigger lawsuits.

A federal law, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, prohibits employment discrimination based on race, sex, religion, color, and national origin, and other laws ban pregnancy and disability bias. Every U.S. state has comparable laws, though they vary in scope.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which enforces federal anti-bias laws, received more than 81,000 discrimination complaints in 2023, and state and local agencies that year received about 50,000 more. In most cases, workers must file complaints with those agencies before suing in court.

'EVIDENCE OF ANIMUS'

Companies often agree to implement DEI-style policies to settle claims that they engaged in widespread discrimination. Goldman Sachs in 2023 said it would review its pay and performance evaluation processes and address any issues as part of a $215 million settlement of a pay discrimination case by female employees.

Delivery company DHL last year said it would adopt policies to ensure that work assignments are not based on race in settling the EEOC's claims that Black DHL employees were given more dangerous and physically demanding jobs. And in 2020, insurance company Jackson National agreed to begin rating managers on their compliance with anti-bias laws and equal employment policies to settle a sprawling discrimination lawsuit, opens new tab.

Goldman Sachs, DHL, and Jackson National, which denied wrongdoing in those cases, declined to comment.

Companies' abandonment of DEI policies could also be cited in future lawsuits as evidence of animus against certain groups of workers, and deprive employers of the ability to defend against discrimination claims by pointing to their policies and training programs, lawyers said.

Solomon cited the example of Meta, which recently eliminated some DEI programs and whose CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, said on a podcast earlier this month that “a lot of the corporate world is pretty culturally neutered" and companies needed more “masculine energy” within their work forces.

Zuckerberg's comments do not violate any laws, but a woman suing Meta for sex bias would likely seize on them and the company's retrenchment on DEI as evidence that it favors men, Solomon said.

Meta did not respond to a request for comment.

 Americans see the federal government as rife with corruption, inefficiency, and red tape — but they’re less sure about whether Elon Musk is the right person to fix it.

A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that only about 3 in 10 U.S. adults strongly or somewhat approve of President Trump’s creation of an advisory body on government efficiency, which Musk is helping. About 4 in 10 disapproved, while the rest were neutral or didn’t know enough to say. (The poll was conducted before Vivek Ramaswamy announced he would no longer be involved in the group.)

The goal of the advisory body, the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, is to expose fraudulent and wasteful spending across the federal bureaucracy, and its leaders have floated a range of possible ways to cut costs, including eliminating entire agencies. But although most agree that the federal government is facing major problems, many Americans also have an unfavorable view of Musk and are hesitant about the Republican president relying on billionaires for advice about government policy.

As the plans take more concrete shape, the poll shows that Americans are ambivalent about some of the changes that Trump and his team have mentioned in the past few months — including eliminating large numbers of federal jobs and moving federal agencies outside Washington. Substantial shares don’t have an opinion, indicating that there’s plenty of room for opinion to shift in either direction. government: AP-NORC poll

A return-to-office policy for federal workers — which was one of Trump’s first executive actions on Inauguration Day — is fairly popular.

Americans see a broken federal government — but aren’t as concerned about the ‘deep state’

As Trump sweeps into his second term with promises to cut regulations and reduce the role of government bureaucrats, most Americans think the federal government has serious problems. About two-thirds of U.S. adults say corruption and inefficiency are “major problems” in the federal government, and roughly 6 in 10 say the same about red tape, such as government regulations and bureaucracy.

Republicans are more likely than Democrats to think these are major problems — but a majority of Democrats still agree that corruption and inefficiency are significant challenges for the government.

But despite Trump’s claims that career federal workers resisted his policies during his first term, concern about civil servants who are unwilling to implement the president’s agenda is not as high. Only about one-third of Americans say this is a big problem in the government.

Many dislike Musk and mistrust billionaires’ influence broadly

Musk was a prominent part of Trump’s inauguration ceremonies — given a seat inside the Capitol Rotunda for the event, then speaking at a rally shortly after Trump was sworn in.

About one-third of Americans have a favorable view of Musk — a billionaire and the world’s richest person — which is down slightly from December. Americans’ views of Musk and Trump have a fair amount of overlap: About 8 in 10 Americans share the same view of both men, whether positive or negative. About half of Americans have an unfavorable view of both Musk and Trump.

Some Americans may also be wary of Musk’s prominence. U.S. adults broadly think it’s a bad thing if the president relies on billionaires for advice about government policy, according to the poll. About 6 in 10 U.S. adults say this would be a “very” or “somewhat” bad thing, while only about 1 in 10 call it a very or somewhat good thing, and about 3 in 10 are neutral.

Return-to-office for federal workers is more popular than cutting federal jobs

One of Trump’s first executive orders on Monday was a broad directive for federal employees to return to the office. That was one of several policies aimed at increasing government efficiency that Trump and Musk floated before his inauguration, including a broader push to eliminate federal jobs.

A sizable share of Americans don’t have an opinion on either proposal, which means there’s plenty of room for views to shift as Trump begins to take action. But firings are less popular than a broad return-to-work mandate. About 4 in 10 Americans oppose eliminating a large number of federal jobs, according to the poll, while about 3 in 10 are in favor. But about 4 in 10 favor requiring federal workers to return to the office five days a week, and only about 2 in 10 are opposed.

Trump has said moving agencies outside Washington will help him shatter the “deep state,” a supposed network of mainly nonelected government officials influencing government policy, and he began moving some federal jobs out of the area toward the end of his first term. But he may need to attempt this on a larger scale before Americans decide what they think about it. Nearly half of U.S. adults in the poll were neutral on moving federal agencies outside Washington, while about one-quarter were in favor and a similar share were opposed.