Managing Attorney
If you’ve noticed something in Fort Worth over the last few years, it’s that our city has seen a period of unprecedented growth. In fact, our metropolitan area, which also includes Dallas and Arlington, saw the highest numeric increase in population over the last two years. Today, Fort Worth boasts over one million residents, making it the thirteenth largest city in America. With this population growth comes opportunities. As more people arrive in Fort Worth, more jobs are created to serve those people who have moved here. This presents an opportunity for foreign workers considering immigrating to the United States to fill these new job positions. If you are an employer considering hiring foreign workers, your immigration attorney can assist you with this process. For foreigners considering immigrating to Fort Worth, an experienced immigration attorney can help you make your dream come true.
Job growth in Fort Worth
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, from the period beginning in November 2020, Fort Worth has outperformed the United States in total nonfarm job growth. For example, in November 2021, the percentage change in total employment stood at 4% for the entire United States, while Fort Worth jobs grew at a rate of over 6%. During the entire period, the rate of job growth in Fort Worth was usually 2 points higher than for the entire country. During the same period, the national unemployment rate was higher than that for Fort Worth, 8.7% compared to 7.9%. This shows that Fort Worth has one of the healthiest job markets in America, with a very steady rate of job growth.
The key sectors of the Fort Worth job market
When you break down the numbers, you see that the Dallas-Fort Worth area created 154,000 new jobs in 2023, surpassed only by New York City. That presents a great deal of opportunities for folks looking for employment and willing to move to Fort Worth. The key is to understand the industries that are creating these jobs.
The largest growth in any employment sector in Fort Worth is professional and business services. During 2023, this sector grew by roughly 33%. This surpasses financial activities, which produced a 17% increase in jobs, and construction, which grew by 16%. Other key sectors of Fort Worth’s job market that grew over the last year included trade, transportation and utilities at 13%, leisure and hospitality at 12%, manufacturing at 11%, and education and health services at 9%. As you can see, this job growth has been fairly broad throughout the City, providing job opportunities for many different types of workers.
Opportunities for immigrants
Fort Worth has seen broad growth across all of its different job sectors. This means that people considering immigration have opportunities no matter their background. For example, in order to fill the highest growth sector, professional and business services, a Fort Worth employer could sponsor a foreign worker under the H-1B program designed for specialty occupations. If the prospective employee is looking to immigrate to the United States, then the employer could sponsor the professional under the EB-1, a first preference visa designed for persons of extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics. This category also includes executives, managers, professors, and researchers.
As you can see, it is designed to bring over the highest-trained and most talented foreign employees in the job pool. With Fort Worth seeing job growth in construction, manufacturing, and utilities, there is a real need for what has been termed “blue-collar” workers. These skilled and unskilled laborers can be sponsored under the EB-3 third preference immigrant visa or the H-2B nonimmigrant visa designed for temporary non-agricultural workers. These visa categories allow Fort Worth businesses involved in construction, manufacturing, and other industries to tap into the foreign labor pool to fill open positions.
Finally, with Fort Worth seeing a growth in health services, there is a need to fill positions at hospitals, nursing homes, hospices, and other healthcare facilities with trained nursing staff. Foreign nurses can apply for these positions either as nonimmigrant under the H-1C visa for registered nurses or the immigrant EB-2 second preference visa for persons with advanced degrees.
Call our firm if you are considering immigrating to Fort Worth or are a Fort Worth employer looking to hire immigrant workers
The job boom in Fort Worth has created an excellent opportunity for immigrants looking for employment. The experienced immigration attorneys at Zepeda Law Firm, PLLC can assist you with all of your employment-based immigration needs, guiding you through the process.