Utah is remarkable. Year after year, we’re ranked as the strongest economy in the country. We have strong employment, fast-growing industries and a standard of living that draws families, businesses and investment from around the world. This success is no accident. It is the result of the vision and foundation laid by the generations who built this state.
The challenge before us today is not finding opportunities for growth but ensuring we have the capacity to make the most of them. Demand across Utah’s economy remains strong, but the sustainability of that growth is increasingly defined by housing and labor supply.
The Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute’s 2026 Economic Report to the Governor warns that “slowing net migration” and “high housing costs” are two of the three biggest risks to Utah’s economic future. In reality, those challenges are closely linked. Both are tied to a growing shortage of construction workers. High demand paired with limited supply is a straightforward recipe for rising prices.
Many Utahns already feel the consequences. Road construction takes months longer than expected. The median home price has climbed to 5.1 times the median household income. New schools and businesses take years to build.
According to the Associated General Contractors of America, 45% of construction firms experienced project delays in 2025 because they couldn’t find enough workers — the most cited reason for delays. Construction wages now average around $37.20 an hour, nearly 9% above the national private sector average, and companies still struggle to fill open positions.
The Sutherland Institute’s Worker Shortage Index puts Utah at 0.72, meaning there are only 72 available workers for every 100 open jobs. Our unemployment rate of 3.3% is more than a full percentage point below the national average. Utah has strong apprenticeship and training programs across the trades, but we are not graduating tradespeople fast enough to close a gap that grows by thousands each year. Nearly 20% of construction workers are over 55 and nearing retirement age, which will continue to compound the problem.
At some point, we need to look honestly at what Utah’s continued growth requires to sustain itself.
Immigrants make up roughly 20% of Utah’s construction workforce. Nationally, the figure is closer to 30%, according to The Wall Street Journal. These workers are filling labor gaps that would otherwise remain empty and lead to further delays and rising costs.
The impact of losing that labor is real. AGC’s 2025 survey found that 28% of construction firms have been directly or indirectly affected by immigration enforcement actions in the last six months alone.
Like many Utahns, I’m frustrated with a national immigration system that rewards politicians more for arguing about the issue than solving it. But while immigration policy is largely decided in Washington, we still have choices here in Utah. We can decide how we treat the people already working here, contributing to our communities and helping build our state. We can be compassionate while also upholding the rule of law to support legal immigration processes.
It would make little sense to limit Utah’s future success by excluding people who are helping build it.
For years, Utah has been guided by the principles of the Utah Compact, which emphasize lawfulness, family unity and a recognition of immigrants’ role in our economy. Those principles continue to serve us well. It would make little sense to limit Utah’s future success by excluding people who are helping build it.
We should absolutely hold high expectations of those who come to Utah: that they respect our laws, contribute to our communities and help strengthen the state we share. But expectations run both directions. Utah has always been at its best when it extends the same industriousness and decency to newcomers that it asks of them in return.
Utah’s continued prosperity depends on our willingness to recognize reality and respond with the same pragmatism that has defined this state for generations.