E-Verify, the government program designed to determine if an employee is legally able to work in the United States, is about to be required at all city run job sites in Denver if a bill passes the City Council.
I bet it is meeting a great deal of resistance by every construction contractor in Denver. Resistance mixed in with a little fear.
Because we all know that the language of the construction site has turned to Spanish over the past decade. When construction companies large and small started getting overwhelmed with demand around the turn of the century the workers they found were illegal aliens. These employees worked hard, showed up on time, and were inexpensive.
The nature of construction with lots of subcontractors allowed illegal workers to fly under the radar screen when it came to residency checks.
Now that we are in a deep recession with 10 percent unemployment legal residents want these construction jobs, the City Council of Denver is getting pressured to stop illegal aliens working on their construction projects. The way to do this is implement the E-Verify system.
If passed, it would require that all firms that get construction contracts with the city check new employees, starting on Sept. 1, to determine if they are legally allowed to work in this country.
Councilwoman Jeanne Faatz and Councilman Chris Nevitt brought up the proposal after the city got complaints about workers on a concrete job last year and found that 12 of the 25 privately employed workers did not have Social Security numbers that matched any in the federal system. Both said they want to make sure that at a time when the city is laying off people and cutting back on public programs, taxpayer money is only going to legal workers. via Denver Business Journal
This is a testimonial to our failed immigration policies. We in the United States have a variable labor market. Just 5 years ago we had full employment plus a huge demand for additional labor. The boom in construction created the need for additional workers and illegal aliens filled that need.
If we had been honest and developed a guest worker program that could manage these people and remove them from the shadows, we all would be better off. With unemployment around 10% and jobs being scarce, we really have no understanding of how many illegal workers are here. Even if we pass immigration laws, the shadow market will remain as employers will try to maintain the low wages of illegals and those illegals will remain in the shadows so they do not lose their jobs to legal residents.
Immigration is a mess and the construction and real estate world is knee deep in it. However, I am glad to see Denver taking a stand. The quicker we get legal residents working the quicker we will get out of the this recession.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m glad to see that Denver is making an effort to help people that actually want jobs. I wish that were more of the case in my home town.
Darrell Walters, Integrity Mortgage Funding – Newnan mortgages
Right way to remove illegal workers by introducing an E-Verify system so that the needed workers can get the job which will help to decrease the unemployment upto certain extent and the market situation.