Changing Faces

Decades past, Americans proudly declared this "a nation of immigrants." We celebrated the idea of the United States as a Melting Pot, a nation capable of welcoming and assimilating just about anyone from anywhere who sought refuge or opportunity here. But the story of immigrants in the United States is no longer, if it ever truly was, one of liberty or refuge, or even opportunity in a Horatio Alger, rags-to-riches sense.

"It has to do with jobs," says Mufazzar Chisti, a senior analyst at the Migration Policy Institute. "[Immigrants] don't come here for the quality of air in New York City. They go where the jobs are."

Once inclined to wax romantic about the Great Wave at the turn of the century, Americans now tend to see immigration as threatening their prosperity: Two-thirds in a January Gallup poll said immigration hurts the economy by driving down wages.

But where American workers perceive a threat, the nation's employers see opportunity. During the 1990s, more new immigrants sought and found jobs in the United States than at any other time in the nation's history. Between 1990 and 2001, immigrants accounted for 50.3% of the growth in the nation's civilian labor force. Even during the recent recession, when native-born workers experienced a net job loss, immigrant employment increased by 3.3%.

The increased demand for immigrant workers trancends short-term economic growth, Chisti says. Rather, a fundamentally restructured U.S. economy needs more low-wage labor than the American work force will supply.

"In the low-wage sector, the concentration of immigrants is much higher now than it has been," Chisti says. "In parts of the country where immigrants are more than 10% of the population, you may have 60% to 70% of lower wage workers who are foreign born. That's a huge shift."

Where The Jobs Are

The change has already taken hold in much of the construction industry, where an increasing reliance on immigrants for low-end labor became evident years ago. In the 1990s, says NAHB economist Michael Carliner, when the housing boom fueled unprecedented expansion in the home building industry, that growth accelerated the demand for foreign-born labor. Particularly in the production building sector, contractors' need for labor was so intense as to nearly lead to an industry crisis. It was a largely Mexican, foreign-born work force that powered builders through the worst of the shortage.

"Without that immigrant labor," Carliner says, "[builders] would have been in tough shape."

Full-service remodelers generally need less production muscle than builders or trade contractors, but the remodeling industry too has had to contend with Americans' declining interest in construction careers.

"No one wants to go into the trades," says Michael Menn, of Design Construction Concepts, Chicago, adding that enrollment is down at a local trade school affiliated with his company. "There are jobs Americans just don't want to do anymore."

For those who do seek construction careers, remodelers have plenty of complaints about commitment and work ethic. "I've had three American kids in the last year who haven't worked out, and they've had a nasty attitude," says George Christiansen, president of Pequot Remodeling, Bridgeport, Conn.

Remodelers all over the country echo Christiansen's gripe. But he is one of a relative few who have countered the shortage by hiring foreign-born workers full-time. He currently employs two Brazilian carpenters and has hired workers from Poland, Jamaica, and Mexico.

Though they haven't all worked out, Christiansen draws a sharp contrast between his foreign-born workers' attitudes and those of the three difficult Americans. "You want people working for you who are happy to get a paycheck and happy to show up for work every day."

New Places

The diverse, multi-ethnic labor force Christiansen finds in Bridgeport is hardly representative of much of the nation. Yet with each passing year, growing numbers of American towns begin to look like Bridgeport. Perhaps even more notable than the Second Great Wave's sheer numbers are the destinations these immigrants choose. Analyses of the 2000 Census reveal unprecedented patterns in the state-by-state distribution of new immigrant populations.

"In the past, people used to think of immigration as a fundamentally metropolitan, big city phenomenon," Chisti says. But while major cities continue to absorb much of the incoming immigrant population, "increasingly, in the last 10 years, it's a much [more widespread] phenomenon." The majority of foreign-born workers still reside in the traditional immigrant states of California, Texas, Florida, New York, Illinois, and New Jersey, and the Washington, D.C.-metropolitan area. But during the 1990s, immigrant populations in non-traditional states in the South, Plains, and Midwest grew at nearly twice the rate as those in the traditional six. New immigrant populations nearly doubled in 22 different states.

States never before considered immigrant havens, like North Carolina, Iowa, and Nebraska, absorbed massive influxes of immigrants. "These states have huge new immigrant populations," Chisti says.

Remodelers in many of these states have already witnessed large demographic shifts in production labor.

Nashville remodeler David Crane says that just 10 years ago, he rarely saw foreign-born workers on local jobsites. Now, he says, "in many of our trades, the great majority [of the workers] are Hispanic." The owner of Crane Builders says he also occasionally sees Bosnian and Sudanese workers, members of small refugee communities that have grown around urban centers in the South.

Bob McKay, owner of McKay Builders in Birmingham, Ala., says he can't understate the labor support provided by Hispanic trade workers over the past several years. "Without Hispanics," he says, "the construction industry in Birmingham would shut down."

Comfort Zone

But while trade and specialty contractors have tapped into the immigrant labor market, few full-service companies working outside of major metro areas hire immigrants on staff. It's the particular nature of the remodeling business that many say has consigned most immigrants in the industry to trades and low-wage labor. They insist that communication, especially the frequent and potentially charged interactions between workers and clients, is too important to tolerate a language barrier.

In some areas, there is basis for those concerns. David Crane says homeowners occasionally complain to him about the presence of foreign-born workers on his jobsites. Crane says the trouble arises because workers who speak English poorly, if at all, can't build a rapport with the homeowner.

"What we run into," Crane says, "isn't really as much prejudice as discomfort."

In Kansas City, remodeler and replacement contractor Doug Bennet says clients have actually raised concerns during the sales process about whether Rhino Builders' crews speak English. Bennet, who subs out all of his replacement labor, frequently employs primarily foreign-born crews. A Czech siding crew is his best performing, Bennet says.

To allay customer fears, Bennet says, he talks up his Czech crew's workmanship and experience and provides addresses of projects the crew has completed, allowing customers to see the quality of the work for themselves.

Bennet says some companies instill fear in homeowners, intimating that foreign-born workers could leave a job unfinished if they run afoul of immigration services.

Even so, he says, homeowners have grown more comfortable with the presence of immigrant workers. "Ten years ago, this would've been a bigger concern because there were so few immigrant workers in this area," Bennet says. "Now it's becoming more commonplace."

Breaking Barriers

Remodelers who employ foreign-born workers and tradesmen are committed to solving the communication problem. Many promote English as a Second Language education.

"If they're willing to take the class, we're willing to pay for it," says Matt Plaskoff, a remodeler and builder based in Los Angeles, adding that extending the offer doesn't guarantee employees will pursue the education.

Jeff Bay, owner of Morningstar Development, also in Los Angeles, insists efforts to break down the language barrier must be made on both sides. "Where we are, if you're in business and running work, if you don't speak Spanish, you're asking for a problem," Bay says. Moreover, he adds, learning to communicate with workers in their language helps build rapport and engenders respect.

Plaskoff finds the same to be true. "The fact that I took the time to learn Spanish scored points" with Hispanic workers, he says. "They really respected that."

Plaskoff's staff includes both bilingual employees and limited-English proficiency Hispanics. "It's really important to have someone on staff to communicate with the Spanish speakers," he says. Even then, while a bilingual staff member can help convey general guidelines and company policies, "it's the day-to-day, on-the-jobsite things where you might not have a bilingual speaker handy. That's where the challenge is.

"When we're talking about simple tasks," Plaskoff says, "[supervisors] oftentimes expect the workers to understand, because they're acting like they do."

Plaskoff and others who have worked extensively with Hispanics often refer to the head nod, a signal of understanding that follows a supervisor's request -- whether or not the request was understood.

Cross cultural management experts say this habit can stem from either pride, unwillingness on the worker's part to admit he doesn't understand, or a culturally rooted aversion to offending superiors -- a worker may fear causing offense by suggesting his supervisor did a poor job explaining the task in question.

Treasure Trove

Despite these challenges, remodelers who employ foreign-born workers report overwhelmingly positive experiences.

"I got amazing amounts of loyalty and work out of my crew," Plaskoff says, echoing the sentiments of several peers. Like Plaskoff, many remodelers have found that immigrants, particularly those newer to the country, work harder and more willingly than the average American worker.

"They'll kill themselves for you," says Ramilios Osses, a Seattle remodeler and builder, of his Mexican carpenters. "Where they come from, they'll make one hundredth of what they make here," says Osses, a native Chilean who has lived in the United States for 27 years. "In some places in Mexico they make 60 pesos a day. That's $6."

Chisti, the think tank analyst, confirms that, generally speaking, the characterization of immigrants as exceptionally hard workers is accurate. Most new immigrants' urgent need to establish themselves and begin earning money supercedes any particularity or hang up that might prevent them from committing all their energies to a job.

"When they arrive in this country," Chisti says, "they don't ask, 'What do I want to do?' They ask, 'Where am I going to get a break? Where am I going to get my foothold?"

You're Welcome

Remodeling columnist and industry observer Walt Stoeppelwerth says that inevitably, remodelers will have to follow the lead of the nation's builders in reaching out to the foreign-born work force.

"The remodeling industry, in the next 10 years, is going to have to really look at and figure out where its workers are coming from." Stoepplewerth advocates organized, large-scale training and recruitment programs like those offered by many local Home Builders' Associations to improve the business and language skills of immigrants.

Stoepplewerth believes the trajectories of the remodeling industry and the nation's foreign-born work force are bound to intertwine. At some companies, that convergence has already begun. Larry Weinberg's BOWA Builders in McLean, Va., recruits heavily from the Washington, D.C.-metro area's large and entrenched Hispanic communities.

"We have to embrace the Latin American population," Weinberg says. "We talk about the labor shortage now; imagine if the Latin American population wasn't there."

Currently, 22 of 70 BOWA employees were born in Central or South America, including 40% of the field crew. Just five years ago, Weinberg says, less than 10% of the company's employees were Latin American or Hispanic. Now, however, BOWA actively seeks workers in the Spanish-speaking community. The company has placed advertisements in Spanish-language newspapers and promotes in-house referrals with a reward system that offers up to $3,000 for a high referral count.

Although the recruitment push occurs company-wide, Weinberg says the degree of connectivity within the Spanish-speaking community is particularly valuable. Weinberg says BOWA has even begun recruiting, through his employees' networks, from among workers not yet in the United States. Although tighter post-September 11 immigration regulations have complicated that effort, that it even appears viable indicates the strength of immigrant networks.

"It just makes good business sense," Weinberg says.

Other remodelers have found success tapping into immigrant networks, as well. Sawhorse, an Atlanta company, learned inadvertently of immigrant communities' networking efficiency after placing an ad in a Spanish-language newspaper.

"That brought us one employee who consequently brought us three or four more," says Sawhorse president Carl Seville. "Their networks are very strong. We have three guys still with us who came from the original employee."

Immigrant communities could almost be said to produce their own self-contained labor markets, Chisti says. Particularly within trades, he says, once an immigrant community carves out a niche, new immigrants resupply that niche, because that's where they first find opportunity. That network effect leads to the prevalence of certain nationalities within particular trades. "Those niches provide [new immigrants] the first builtin network. Once the niches start, they get perpetuated."

Plenty of companies emphasize recruitment programs; training that effort on a particular community is a logical next step.

But Weinberg says the heart of BOWA's outreach is found in what the company offers Spanish-speaking workers. Most obvious is that the company is attempting to become entirely bilingual.

A card listing the company's core values that every employee is required to carry is printed in both English and Spanish; posted announcements are printed in Spanish; and the company's employee newsletter, though not translated in its entirety, includes a summary of its contents in Spanish, as well as a Spanish translation of Weinberg's personal letter to employees.

Weinberg is even considering switching to a new 401(k) provider that offers Spanish-language program assistance and informational literature.

BOWA also offers to pay for language education, both English classes for Spanish speakers and Spanish classes for English-speaking supervisors. Weinberg is studying Spanish himself and on site visits, tries to converse with his Hispanic production workers in their native language.

"We want [our Spanish-speaking employees] to feel welcome, to feel that this is their company, too," Weinberg says. "By going a few steps further, we can make them feel comfortable."

BOWA project manager Willie Avilla emigrated from Guatemala in 1980. Avilla, who ran a remodeling company before joining BOWA, says the company's outreach is working. Many of his Spanish-speaking coworkers were "attracted [to BOWA] by the fact that they treat Hispanics well."

More significant, Avilla says, is that BOWA's equitable treatment is not simply a hollow gesture. Avilla says the company's eagerness to train and promote its Hispanic workers is genuine.

"They want to move you up the ladder; they don't just want you stay in one place. It's enticing. A lot of places, you get hired as a laborer, and you'll never be anything but a laborer."

Arturo Prieto emigrated from Peru in 1979. Hired on as a carpenter, he worked his way up through the ranks to become BOWA's first Hispanic superintendent. "Companies that aren't advancing Spanish-speakers into the management level are going to lose out," he says. "They should look right now into the Latin community. It's the engine of the construction industry."

SIDEBARS

Simple Terms

Willie Avilla, a native of Guatemala and project manager at BOWA Builders in McLean, Va., says that when talking to foreign-born workers, native English speakers need to keep their audience in mind. "When you first start learning a language," Avilla says, "you translate literally." Idioms and figurative speech can be very confusing. Cross-cultural management experts offer these tips:

• Be patient and help the worker feel comfortable
• Use specific, concrete language; avoid idioms
• Speak slowly and enunciate clearly, pausing often
• Use visual aids
• Try to measure comprehension: Laughing, inappropriate nodding, and a lack of responsiveness are signs the worker doesn't understand

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Jobsite Safety: Lost in Translation

For Hispanic workers, a steadily growing presence in the construction industry has lead not only to greater opportunity but greater risk as well. By the end of the 1990s, Hispanics accounted for more than 15% of the construction work force, up from 9% at the start of the decade.

Over that same period, work related fatalities among Hispanic construction workers increased by 53%. In 2000, the fatality rate for Hispanics (the most recent available) was 39% higher than that of non-Hispanic workers.

A series of reports presented by the National Academies of Sciences called Safety is Seguridad makes several recommendations for effectively communicating safety information to Hispanic workers.

• Most essentially, any instructions or materials should be in Spanish. "Spanglish" words are also widely understood and may be best for some construction-specific terms.
• Use a multiformat approach, including both talks and printed materials.
• Graphics-heavy printed materials are more effective than those with lots of text.
• Use a Spanish speaking safety trainer. If you have to use a translator, avoid one who isn't familiar with the material and could potentially misinterpret or omit key details.
• During safety training, maintain a comfortable atmosphere and generate discussion.