One-Third Of Employers Plan To Hire Immigrant Workers In 2017

Immigrant backlash is not impacting hiring of job candidates born outside the U.S., according to a new CareerBuilder Survey.

In the midst of ongoing debate around immigration, U.S. employers plan to reach beyond borders to help fill U.S. jobs. A third of employers (33 percent) say they plan to hire immigrant workers in 2017, with 16 percent planning to do so in the second quarter, according to a new CareerBuilder survey.

Immigrant WorkersWhile 35 percent of workers voiced concern about immigrants taking U.S. jobs in general, the vast majority of workers (90 percent) don’t have any concerns about immigrant workers taking their own jobs.

Compensation For Immigrant Workers

There has been much discourse around how much immigrants earn compared to other workers, but from the employer’s perspective, they don’t see much of a difference, if at all. Of employers who hire immigrant workers, the vast majority (80 percent) say that they pay the same to both U.S. born workers and immigrants working in the same roles. Twelve percent of these employers reported that they pay immigrants less while 9 percent reported that they pay immigrants more.

Job Functions For Immigrant Workers

The types of functional positions non-U.S. born workers are being recruited to fill varies from industry to industry. Among employers who are hiring immigrant workers this year, this includes:

  • Technical: 42 percent
  • Administrative: 31 percent
  • Manual labor: 31 percent
  • Sales: 30 percent
  • Creative: 29 percent
  • Financial: 25 percent
  • Managerial: 23 percent

“Immigrant workers continue to play an integral part in the U.S. workforce and economy,” said Rosemary Haefner, chief human resources officer for CareerBuilder. “A significant number of U.S. employers are hiring workers from other countries in an effort to navigate around the growing skills gap and fill increasingly complex and rapidly evolving roles.”

Top Industries Hiring Foreign Born Workers

Immigrant workers looking for employment can expect to find opportunities across multiple industries, with IT housing the largest percentage of employers who plan to hire them this year:

  • IT: 50 percent
  • Financial Services: 38 percent
  • Professional & Business Services: 37 percent
  • Manufacturing: 30 percent
  • Transportation¹: 30 percent
  • Health care: 21 percent
  • Retail: 18 percent

Immigrant Hiring By Company Size

Plans to hire immigrant workers in 2017 are consistent across companies of all sizes, and especially with larger companies, which tend to have more job openings in general:

  • 1-50 employees: 16 percent
  • 51-250 employees: 35 percent
  • 251-500 employees: 46 percent
  • 501+ employees: 42 percent

CareerBuilder’s latest study on immigration was conducted online by Harris Poll from February 16 to March 9, 2017 and included representative samples of 2,380 full-time employers and 3,215 full-time workers across industries and company sizes in the private sector.

¹Base size less than 100