GHBA President Matthew Reibenstein participated in a panel discussion this week on the vital role immigrants play in the homebuilding industry as part of the American Immigration Council’s (AIC) Empowering Texas: Immigrants’ Contributions to the Texas Workforce event.
During the event, AIC shared its latest reports on the contributions of immigrants in three pivotal sectors of the Houston and Texas economies: healthcare, construction and energy. The construction report confirmed what we already knew about the construction industry – a large portion – 39.7% of all entrepreneurs in the construction sector are immigrants. Matthew not only spoke on the importance of immigrants in the homebuilding sector, but how policy reform and workforce development programs can ensure these workers are better integrated and supported to fill growing job vacancies across the state.
The report also includes the story of GHBA member Emely Roque’s father, from Yellowstone Marble & Granite, who emigrated from Mexico at just 16 years old and went on to build their successful family-owned business. Read more
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