Loss of TPS Workers Could Leave Skilled Jobs Unfilled

Manufacturing hiring for skilled positions is difficult this year, even with reports of layoffs in some areas. Almost no roles are untouched: skilled technicians are in short supply, line workers turn over quickly and even support roles are difficult to fill.

Yet another disruption is looming with the potential rollback of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for more than 550,000 workers who have been legally authorized to work in the United States.

While the current administration has put these TPS rollbacks into place, they are currently being challenged in the courts. If they’re allowed to proceed, the further disruption would put another 1 million workers at risk of losing their jobs. 

The time to prepare is now.

All together, hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans, Haitains and Ukrainians, and tens of thousands from Afghanistan and Cameroon would be affected. These are not undocumented workers; rather, they are vetted and legally employed people who make critical contributions to the American economy, especially those industries like manufacturing that rely on entry level and mid-skill labor. The loss of these workers could trigger operational instability for manufacturers, along with increased costs and stiff competition for an already shallow pool of skilled labor.

Where TPS Workers Fit into Manufacturing

TPS workers are often in roles that are critical to operations, keeping production moving, but they are also notoriously hard to staff. These roles include machine operators, assemblers, material handlers, quality inspectors and support roles like cleaning and maintenance. Without them the operations could grind to a halt. On top of this, they are physically demanding jobs; they experience high turnover; and they often struggle to attract enough U.S.-born applicants. 

When employees that work under Temporary Protected Status are taken out of the picture, factories immediate gaps. There is a scramble to cover shifts. Inevitably overtime costs go up and productivity suffers. While the disruption may not be immediately evident to the boardroom, the team on the plant floor can feel it; even just a handful of vacancies can slow down entire lines.

Operational and Cost Pressures

The costs associated with the sudden workforce disruption of removing TPS workers from the picture are significant and often hard to find. Overtime wages will likely grow as plant managers ask remaining workers to pick up extra hours. Recruiting and onboarding new staff isn’t cheap either, and productivity typically takes a hit too as new hires learn the ropes. Leadership is caught up expending more of their attention on scheduling and shift coverage, diverting their attention from continuous improvement and process optimization.

There is a real risk of production delays cascading into missed customer deadlines and even strained supplier relationships. For manufacturers operating in competitive global markets, disruptions like this threaten margins and do reputational damage.

Compliance and Legal Exposure

There’s even more risk when it comes to compliance. It is the responsibility of the employer to ensure that all workers maintain their legal work authorization. If TPS protections end, human resource departments will be forced to act quickly to update I-9 documentation and employee records. Any failure to maintain compliance records could expose manufacturers to fines and other penalties, elevating the risk to the business itself.

The uncertainty that surrounds TPS only adds to the challenges. There may not be much of a notice window for employers before protections lapse. For those with lean HR departments, staying in front of these changes while also filling operational roles can seem like an almost insurmountable task.

How Manufacturing Leaders Are Preparing

With so much uncertainty, it’s essential that manufacturers have a forward-looking strategy to this problem. Some are already investing in cross-training their teams so they can move more readily between stations and cover multiple roles when the gaps crop up. Others have been diligent in building stronger partnerships with local workforce boards and technical colleges to expand their pipelines of entry-level talent. 

Retention is another piece of the puzzle that is adding to the larger labor shortage. Many plants are looking at wages, adding in modest benefits where they can, and adjusting schedules to help reduce turnover. Even the smallest of adjustments here can make a big difference in convincing existing workers to stay at a time when labor is increasingly scarce.

Building Long-Term Resilience

With the ongoing labor shortage that has dogged the manufacturing sector for years along with the TPS rollback, the need for long-term workforce resilience has never been more important. Manufacturers, in many cases, might consider ranking worker immigration status as part of their overall talent risk profile just as critically as they do supply chain risk or even equipment downtime. This means putting into place strategies that aim to diversify staffing sources while reducing vulnerability to sudden policy shifts.  

Some companies are giving more attention to lawful visa categories like the EB-3 “other workers” program. This category allows U.S. employers to sponsor foreign nationals with relevant skills for positions that cannot be filled locally. The process takes time as the system is backlogged and the numbers limited, but it can help shore up a stable and compliant pipeline of workersIn the meantime, other strategic workforce development approaches—like expanding apprenticeship programs, investing in on-the-job training and improving the employer value proposition through workplace culture and benefits—can be explored and implemented, along with targeted automation and process improvements.

Turning Risk Into Opportunity

For manufacturing leadership, the TPS rollback is a reminder that labor risk is now as strategic as technology, capital investment and supply chain management.

Companies that act now by shoring up their compliance systems; contingency planning for multiple labor scenarios; and investments in both people and technology will be better-positioned to maintain productivity as we forge ahead in uncertain times. 

It’s a challenge, but also an opportunity to build a more resilient manufacturing workforce that can withstand the policy changes and demographic pressures hitting the manufacturing sector for years to come.