Roughly half of New York City’s construction workforce is foreign-born.

That is not a side note. It is the foundation of the entire system.

These are the people pouring concrete, framing walls, installing systems, and doing the daily work that turns drawings into buildings. Without them, nothing moves.

Over the past year, that workforce has become less visible — and in many cases, less available.

Between February and June 2025, the foreign-born workforce declined by approximately 150,000 workers nationally, after increasing by 186,000 during the same period the year before.

That reversal is not theoretical. It is showing up on job sites.