The tightening grip of immigration enforcement across the United States is sending significant ripples through various sectors of the economy, particularly those heavily reliant on foreign-born labor. While actions like denaturalization remain rare, they signify a broader policy shift that heightens risk for many foreign-born workers, prompting critical questions about the stability of the national workforce.
Foreign-born individuals constitute approximately 17.5% of the overall U.S. labor force, according to recent U.S. Census Bureau data. However, their contribution is disproportionately concentrated in certain key industries. Fields such as agriculture, construction, healthcare, and critically, the hospitality industry, depend significantly on these workers to fill essential operational roles.
Among the sectors most impacted, the hotel industry stands out as one of the most dependent in the U.S. economy on foreign-born labor. Current Census Bureau figures reveal that over 31% of employees within the traveler accommodation sector—encompassing hotels, motels, and resorts—are foreign-born. This remarkable figure positions the industry as the fourth highest among the 50 largest private-sector industries in terms of its share of foreign-born workers.
This reliance is particularly pronounced when compared to other labor-intensive fields. Only building services (38.3%), landscaping services (35.4%), and crop production (31.8%) report higher shares of foreign-born workers. The hotel sector’s reliance surpasses even significant industries like home health care (26.4%) and construction (25.0%), underscoring the deep integration of this segment of the workforce into the fabric of American hospitality.
Within hotels, foreign-born workers predominantly fill roles critical to daily operations, particularly in food service, cleaning, and essential behind-the-scenes functions. Dishwashers, for instance, represent the highest concentration, with 58.4% of workers born outside the United States. Other key roles include gambling service workers (53.3%), food preparation workers (49.7%), housekeepers (49.1%), and cooks (41.3%), illustrating the indispensable nature of foreign-born labor in maintaining service standards.
Major urban centers demonstrate an even greater dependence, with foreign-born workers forming a majority of hotel staff in several prominent U.S. metros. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach leads with 65.1% foreign-born hotel employees, followed closely by San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward at 64.9%, and New York-Newark-Jersey City at 56.4%. These cities, renowned for their tourism and established immigrant communities, exemplify the critical connection between diverse populations and the hospitality industry’s viability.
At the state level, California leads with 47.7% of its hotel workforce being foreign-born, reflecting its large immigrant population and robust tourism economy. Similarly high proportions are found in New York (46.7%), New Jersey (45.0%), Nevada (44.6%), and Hawaii (43.6%). These figures underscore how states with vibrant tourism sectors and significant immigrant communities rely on this segment of the labor force to sustain their economic activity and meet demand.
Conversely, states in the South and Midwest, generally characterized by smaller immigrant communities and less tourism, exhibit a lower reliance on foreign-born hotel labor. For example, Alabama reports the lowest share at just 5.7%. States such as Michigan (8.8%), Missouri (9.5%), and Kentucky (11.6%) show similarly low rates, highlighting a clear regional disparity in workforce composition within the U.S. hotel sector and the broader economic impact of immigration trends.
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