Source: Lisa M. Keefe, MEATINGPLACE, 11/22/18



The percentage of jobs in the meat processing industry that are filled by foreign-born employees is twice that of the U.S. as a whole — about 35 percent of meat industry employment, compared with 17 percent nationwide, according to an analysis by the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. But capacity in the processing industry is expanding rapidly, and immigration flows are a fraction of what they were in the 1980s and into the 2000s. When processors face short-term and long-term hiring and retention issues, immigrants and immigration policy are inevitably a large part of the problem.

"We relied on certain populations for so long and now that that population isn't there, it makes it harder for everyone," says Rabobank Senior Analyst for Animal Protein Christine McCracken.

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