Where Did All the American-Born Roofers Go?
Date Posted: January 15, 2026
Posted In: What we are thinking about, Workforce,
From New York Times: In 1976, Matthew Moore marched into the roofers’ union hall in Orange County, Calif., signed his card and, at 19, found his calling. Within hours, he put on a pair of hot boots, climbed a ladder and became one of the many union men laying the roofs of tract homes spreading out across Southern California.
Only two years later, Mr. Moore, a native of the state who never went to college, bought a three-bedroom house of his own in Whittier.
“That kind of work suited me right down to my soul,” said Mr. Moore, now 68 and retired. “I worked outside in the sun every day. Nothing better.”
It was also the kind of well-paying blue-collar job that once helped drive a strong middle-class economy, and has largely vanished. It’s work that many Americans want to see restored.
In the decades since Mr. Moore walked into that union hall, an enormous demographic shift has transformed his industry. In the 1970s and 1980s, the share of foreign-born workers in construction was the same as in other industries. But that quickly changed. Today that share is nearly twice as high as in other jobs.
Eroding Wages, Working Conditions
An oft-repeated explanation for this sea change is that immigrants took jobs from Americans while, somewhat paradoxically, Americans no longer wanted to do the backbreaking work required to build a house. But a review of data and historical records, as well as interviews with many people who work in or study construction, tell a different story: First, construction jobs became less desirable, as eroding wages and working conditions diminished the quality and job security of the profession. Only then did immigrants, with the encouragement of the political and business class, fill a gap that was already opening.
Particularly Vulnerable
Most of those foreign-born workers are not naturalized citizens, and many are undocumented. That leaves an industry of 6.8 million workers particularly vulnerable to President Trump’s mass deportation effort: Builders are reporting labor shortages as some workers are detained or deported and others stay home amid immigration raids.
And without workers, an already strained housing market will only grow more so, driving up historically high home prices and slowing the production of new homes.