Special Questions

Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey

Data were collected July 15–23, and 79 Texas manufacturers responded to the survey.

NOTE: 76 responses.

NOTES: 33 responses. Results shown include only firms answering yes to question 1.

NOTE: 74 responses. Prior to July 2025, the question asked about the change over the past month.

NOTES: 71 responses. Prior to July 2025, the question asked about the change over the past month.

NOTES: 74 responses. The survey posed a similar question in February 2025.

NOTES: 67 responses. This question was only posed to those answering no to question 5. The survey posed a similar question in February 2025.

The following was posed to those whose ability to hire and retain foreign-born workers has been or is expected to be impacted by changes to immigration policy.

• The immigration policy will increase the overall wage rate and also increase reliance on contract labor.

• The federal E-Verify system needs to be improved with facial recognition. We need to increase guest worker programs to allow people to legally work and have non-citizen legal status.

• There is more fear of ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] intervention. We have had no issues with this, since we believe all of our employees are properly documented.

Survey respondents were given the opportunity to also provide comments, which can be found in the Comments tab above.

Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey

Data were collected July 15–23, and 252 Texas business executives responded to the survey.

NOTE: 246 responses.

NOTES: 131 responses. Results shown include only firms answering yes to question 1.

NOTE: 244 responses. Prior to July 2025, the question asked about the change over the past month.

NOTES: 242 responses. Prior to July 2025, the question asked about the change over the past month.

NOTES: 243 responses. The survey posed a similar question in February 2025.

NOTES: 202 responses. This question was only posed to those answering no to question 5. The survey posed a similar question in February 2025.

The following was posed to those whose ability to hire and retain foreign-born workers has been or is expected to be impacted by changes to immigration policy.

• The hospitality community relies on considerable labor-intensive work — housekeeping, landscape, food and beverage, etc. Workers and contractors are more and more fearful of coming in to work in hotels and restaurants.
• The temporary work-based visa programs are almost virtually impossible to navigate and are expensive. There is no guarantee of success. We also fear that companies that have illegally hired in the past will now seek our employees. We fear they will push wages up.

• If Washington clamps down hard on immigrants, it will be yet another unknown we will deal with, and all options will be on the table to address the issue.

• A lot of focus has been on the impact of immigration policy on blue collar labor, but we have started seeing early signs of its impact on white collar, educated positions as well. Top recent graduates are rethinking whether they want to stay in the U.S. or move home to their countries of origin, with many of them choosing to return home.

• It is having a larger effect on our clients, which is slowing us down. For us, we have not seen it but are worried about the end of this year and next.

• A tip circulated just this morning that a convoy of officers was moving through Pasadena. The news spread like wildfire, sent folks into hiding and killed our productivity as everyone we know became obsessed with the activity. The stories from our community managers about how roundups are actually being conducted are reminiscent of the way dissidents disappear in third-world countries. It is not good.

• Uncertainty with regulations has led us to pause any new H-1Bs. 
• About 8 to 10 percent of our workforce is H-1B. We are seeing that the unpredictable nature of the process, unpredictable rejections and revoking, etc. has led to a lack of mobility in the workforce. We are also seeing that many companies don't want to deal with it and are turning more and more to outsourcing to nearshore and offshore. This results in the job being sent abroad and most likely this job will never come back to the U.S.
• Immigration challenges and changes in policies are directly impacting the company. We like less regulations and flexibility as business owners and leaders.
• Since I am not trying to hire, I don't have a problem. However, the companies I consult for do. Construction will be significantly impacted, as foreign-born workers do so much of the manual labor required. The restrictions and the ICE raids are destroying the construction workplace. Now, if it can't be built, there is no need for my services, which means my revenue goes down.

• Since we manufacture in Mexico, the biggest implication is the inability of the U.S. manufacturing base to support needed raw materials in the supply chain and companies looking to other areas of the globe for their supply chain as well as their final product market. The U.S. is quickly being looked at as an alternative market if we can get our act together.

• Visa changes and processing delays significantly affected our revenue, as did a perception that immigrants are not welcome even if they are legally here.

Survey respondents were given the opportunity to also provide comments, which can be found in the Comments tab above.

Texas Retail Outlook Survey

Data were collected July 15–23, and 44 Texas retailers responded to the survey.

NOTE: 43 responses.

NOTES: 29 responses. Results shown include only firms answering yes to question 1.

NOTE: 43 responses. Prior to July 2025, the question asked about the change over the past month.

NOTES: 42 responses. Prior to July 2025, the question asked about the change over the past month.

NOTES: 42 responses. The survey posed a similar question in February 2025.

NOTES: 38 responses. This question was only posed to those answering no to question 5. The survey posed a similar question in February 2025.

The following was posed to those whose ability to hire and retain foreign-born workers has been or is expected to be impacted by changes to immigration policy.

• Reduced sales to foreign-born customers, customer counts down periodically due to raids by ICE in the area.

Survey respondents were given the opportunity to also provide comments, which can be found in the Comments tab above.

Special Questions Comments

Survey participants are given the opportunity to submit comments. Some comments have been edited for grammar and clarity.

• We need to have immigration reform. Period.
• About 20 percent of our workforce is foreign born. However, we only hire people with legal status, so we see no impact on our ability to hire and retain foreign-born employees.

• We are seeing a significant slowdown in new order awards and lower RFQs [requests for quotation] for new projects.
• There are no skilled or unskilled workers out there. The workforce is not stable, committed or dedicated. It is getting worse over the years.

• We are very concerned over employees that have worked for 10, 12, 15 years that may or may not be subject to deportation.

• Foreign-born laborers get the work done. We need them, we use them, and we like them. However, we wouldn't require their service if our non-foreign-born laborers were sufficiently motivated to do the work. I've found that to be the case across multiple industries for the last three decades.
• We have employees from Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia, Russia, El Salvador, Mexico and Peru. They all went through the legal process to immigrate and obtain the proper documentation. Several are now U.S. citizens. The immigration system works. You just have to follow the law.

• I would strongly support a fast track for renewing, and also new, authorization for any worker that has worked in this country for three-plus years.

• We only employ I-9 verified employees.
• We don't really work with foreign-born workers who don't have valid I-9 cards. We are just now trying to hire a receptionist accounts payable person, so we shall see how that goes. Otherwise, we are not currently hiring for the production floor.

• We were required to fire over 40 employees that had been with the company for over 20 years or face severe penalties. The law and reality are in direct conflict. The government punishes the wrong people.  The government punishes the wrong people.

• The foreign nationals we hire have advanced degrees in engineering. They are already on student visas and transition to H1B. So far, we have not seen any difference in the availability of foreign graduate students.
• We have very few non-U.S. citizens.
• We have not hired foreign workers but might in the future if we continue to have a workforce shortage.
• Availability of domestically-born workers has lessened the need to hire foreign-born or offshore high-tech workers.
• We hire trained employees. When we hire foreign born, they are H1B1 visas.
• We have not tried to hire any foreign-born workers.
• Open access or flexibility to banking loans and an improved market is very helpful

• We have no foreign-born workers.

• Very few of our clients will hire foreign-born candidates, and for the rare client that would, they are no longer hiring anyone with a visa for fear the visa will not be renewed.
• We welcome immigration enforcement with regard to employment. Businesses that have always followed the laws might see their employees taken by others who did not follow the law. However, the ones that have followed the laws will have the correct wage model. It is fair to see a more level playing field, finally.

• We don't hire foreign workers in our office environment.

• Ranch sales may be affected since immigrants are usually the ones that like to work on maintenance of the property. Buyers of ranches like immigrants because it’s cheap labor.
• Our workforce is not impacted by foreign-born workers; however, the cost of goods by the shift in this workforce will impact consumer prices (food, transportation, housing, etc.).

• We don't employ any non-citizens or permanent residents. But immigration policy is absolutely affecting our business partners.

• Sales positions are hard to fill in this environment.

• We are not typically hiring entry-level workers that might be impacted by immigration policy. We are also not hiring skilled labor (e.g., engineers) that might come over on an H-1B visa. That said, I feel like it's inevitable that the reduction or restriction in both labor pools will have a ripple effect in the next 12 to 18 months that could impact the type of candidate we recruit.

• We need truckers with commercial driver’s licenses with hazmat endorsement, and immigrants don't apply.

• Our business is not directly impacted or affected by immigration policy.