Utah Business, a local news site, says that staffing can’t keep up with the booming industries in the state. In fact, The Standard-Examiner reports that Utah’s unemployment rate was 3.2 percent in November 2017, significantly lower than its long-term average of 4.94 percent.

1. Experts Say Foreign-
Born Workers Ease
Utah's Staffing
Shortage
Buhler Law Office
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2. Utah Business, a local news site, says that staffing can’t keep up with the booming industries in the
state. In fact, The Standard-Examiner reports that Utah’s unemployment rate was 3.2 percent in
November 2017, significantly lower than its long-term average of 4.94 percent.
Utahn companies currently have more than 4,000 open positions for science, technology, engineering,
and mathematics (STEM) jobs, for instance. Intermountain Healthcare, a Utah-based, non-profit
system of 22 hospitals, reports that healthcare is likely to face a shortage of nurses over the next ten
years, too, if current conditions continue.
Immigrant workers might be the solution to the shortage, say experts. Utah’s robust immigrant
population helps fill in thousands of vacant positions in the state.
The Immigrant Population
The American Immigration Council (AIC) says that about 8 percent of Utah’s population was born in a
different country. Top countries of origin include Mexico (43.2 percent), El Salvador (4.1), Canada (3.5),
Vietnam (2.9), and The Philippines (2.9).

3. These immigrants are important to Utah’s labor force. In fact, roughly one out of nine workers, or about
11.3 percent of the working population, is an immigrant.
They form a sizable fraction of the workforce in various industries, such as construction (20 percent),
administrative, waste management, and remediation services (18.6), manufacturing (17.9),
accommodation and food services (16), and agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting (15.4).
Meanwhile, about one in nine business owners in the state are immigrants, generating about $450
million in business income. As such, immigrants contribute significantly to the state’s growth.
A Valuable Contribution
The AIC says that immigrants not only ease staffing shortages but also contribute over a billion dollars
in annual taxes. In 2014, they paid $784.8 million in federal taxes and $410.3 million in state and local
taxes. They also contributed about $4 billion to Utah’s economy as consumers.

4. Immigrants are a great help to Utah’s struggling workforce numbers. An article from the Standard-
Examiner says that for Utah to address its worker shortage further, legislators should reconsider its
immigration laws. This would encourage the best and brightest from the entire world to be part of Utah’s
economy.
Sources:
https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/immigrants-in-utah
https://utahbusiness.com/perfect-fit-foreign-born-workers-help-solve-utahs-staffing-shortages/
http://kutv.com/news/local/staffing-shortages-prompts-action-by-department-of-corrections
http://www.standard.net/Guest-Commentary/2018/01/16/Utah-economy-worker-shortage-education-
immigration-China-column-Steagall
https://www.buhlerlawoffice.com
https://intermountainhealthcare.org/blogs/topics/transforming-healthcare/2017/12/finding-a-cure-
for-healthcares-staffing-shortage/