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Want more housing market stories from Lance Lamberts ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. During his campaign, Donald Trump vowed to implement mass deportations. Since regaining power, he has signed multiple executive orders aimed at tightening border security and increasing arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers. In theory, an increase in deportationslet alone mass deportationscould impact U.S. homebuilders and their network of subcontractors. While we dont exactly know how many undocumented immigrants work in construction, we know its a chunk. In 2016, Pew Research Center estimated that 13% of the U.S. construction workforce is undocumented. In 2021, the Center for American Progress estimated that 23% of construction laborers are undocumented (see their full breakdown below). Last month, analysts at John Burns Research and Consulting (JBREC) set out to find out if homebuilders are seeing an impact yet from deportations and arrests. So far, there hasnt been a big impact on the housing market: 11% of homebuilders in the JBREC survey said that recent deportations and/or changes in immigration policy have impacted their labor force. What are the major publicly-traded homebuilders saying publicly? Last week, Rick Palacios, director of research at JBREC, posted a roundup of recent comments made on earnings calls regarding deportations and the housing market. Here’s what they had to say: Century Communities, Q4 2024 earnings call (January 29, 2025): Regarding ICE raids and deportations […] This is still early on unfolding. We have not seen anything on the ground or in our cost structure that needs us to react in a certain way. Its just wait and see. But right now, we’re not seeing anything that is negative to the business. Beazer, Q1 2025 earnings call (January 30, 2025): Regarding impact of deportations and immigration issues […] Honestly, have not seen an impact. And we check in regularly. We’ve got a hotline set up internally to sort of anything, and I have not heard any news on that. I won’t be surprised if there is some in markets that we do business and in the industry. But so far, I have not heard of any. PulteGroup, Q4 2024 earnings call (January 30, 2025): Regarding impact of immigration enforcement […] It’s been a long-standing policy of our company trade partners and the labor that are on our job sites, we require verified residency status and/or work permits that allow them to work legally in the U.S. That’s been our position for a long time, it will continue to be our position. In terms of impacts to the broader labor force, even beyond just construction labor to the extent that there are deportation activities, there’s no question there’ll be less labor available and that will have an impact on all wage rates. And we’ll certainly have to deal with that as that becomes more clear. Taylor Morrison Home Corporation, Q4 2024 earnings call (February 12, 2025): Regarding potential impact of immigration . . . were happy to report that we haven’t seen anything hit the job site. Certainly, we’ve got protocols in place. Even though we’ve seen activity within markets, we have not seen anything hit our job sites. Coming into the year, we had a little bit of fear that we would see some absenteeism of folks. To date, I’d say there’s been no disruptions. Tri Pointe Homes, Q4 2024 earnings call (February 18, 2025): Regarding the impact of ICE raids or deportations […] No impacts at all. Typically, our trades have maintained the necessary requirements as far as making sure they’re legal citizens. Our trades have employees and teammates that have been with them for quite a while. Were not expecting any labor issues this year, to be honest with you. Toll Brothers, Q1 2025 earnings call (February 19, 2025): We have not seen any immediate supply chain impacts from tariffs or labor shortages due to changes in immigration policies, although we are monitoring developments closely and will pivot as necessary to deal with any issues that arise.
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E-Commerce
Its not just the tech industry that is facing layoffs in 2025. In recent weeks, a number of high-profile media and entertainment companies have seen job cuts. The most recent media giant to reportedly undergo layoffs is the Walt Disney Company. Heres what you need to know about the layoffs affecting the media industry right now. ABC News and Disney Entertainment Networks cut jobs The Walt Disney Company company is getting ready to let go of about 6% of its employees who work in the companys ABC News Group and Disney Entertainment Networks units, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. The layoffs will total about 200 employees and will reportedly be announced today. The move is being made to save costs on what used to be more profitable divisions but now arent seen as important in the ongoing shift to streaming. Fast Company reached out to Disney for comment. As part of the move, ABC will reportedly merge 20/20 and Nightline into one unit, which will result in lost jobs. The news network is also reportedly shutting down the news site 538, which currently employs about 15 people. As for the Disney Entertainment Networks unit, WSJ says its scheduling and program planning units will see job cuts. E.W. Scripps and Tegna lays off employees American broadcaster E.W. Scripps will also reportedly lay off workers across its local TV stations, reports TheWrap. The company currently owns 61 stations across the country, and employees are said to have begun being notified about the job cuts yesterday. It is unknown exactly how many employees E.W. Scripps will be laying off, but the company is said to employ about 5,200 workers. “We can confirm there were some position eliminations across about a dozen Scripps stations,” an E.W. Scripps spokesperson told Fast Company when reached for comment. “The media industry is in a state of continued disruption and, while difficult, these changes are part of Scripps ongoing commitment to adapt through this disruption and ensure we can continue providing our communities with essential services well into the future.” The reported E.W. Scripps layoffs come after another American broadcast company, Tegna Inc., which owns numerous NBC-affiliated stations, laid off its its VERIFY fact-checking team. As AdWeek reported, Tegnas fact-checking team included about 20 journalists and producers. Jobs disappear at WSJ and LA Times, too Its not just broadcast jobs that are going in the media industry. Jobs at print media giants have also been lost in recent days, too. The Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief Emma Tucker sent a memo (via TalkingBizNews) to employees on Tuesday that the paper would be creating a new Technology & Media group based in New York to oversee its tech coverage. However, Tucker said the changes do mean that some reporters and editors in San Francisco and New York will be leaving us. Tucker did not say how many jobs would be lost. The Los Angeles Times will also see some journalists departingbut this is not due to layoffs. As noted by TheWrap, the newspaper’s owner, Patrick Soon-Shiong, has made buyout offers to over 40 newsroom staff. The buyout offer comes amid recent drama at the paper, including the pulling of the publication’s planned endorsement of Kamala Harris late last year. Silver lining: January job losses lower than a year earlier According to data from consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the media industrywhich includes television, film, streaming, and newslost 624 jobs in January. That was a jump of 27% over the 490 jobs the industry lost in December 2024. However, January 2025s job losses of 624 media jobs were down 41% from the 836 media jobs lost in January 2024. When it comes to just the news segment of the media industrywhich includes digital, broadcast, and printChallenger, Gray & Christmas says 192 layoffs occurred in January 2025, down 64% from the 528 cuts in January 2024.
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E-Commerce
President Donald Trump vowed to keep up his campaign of “swift and unrelenting action” in reorienting the nation’s economy, immigration and foreign policy in an unyielding address before Congress that left Democratic legislators to register their dissent with stone faces, placards calling out “lies,” and one legislator’s ejection.Trump’s prime-time speech Tuesday was the latest marker in his takeover of the nation’s capital, where the Republican-led House and Senate have done little to restrain the president as he and his allies work to slash the size of the federal government and remake America’s place in the world.The president’s address, clocking in at a record 99 minutes, added up to a defiant sales pitch for the policies that Trump promised during his campaign and leaned into during his first weeks back in office. Trump pledged to keep delivering sweeping change to rescue the nation from what he described as destruction and mistakes left by his predecessor. He seldom addressed his comments directly to the American people, who are trying to keep up with the recent upheaval, while repeatedly needling the Democratic lawmakers seated before him.Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, who delivered the Democratic response following Trump’s speech, allowed that “America wants change, but there’s a responsible way to make change and a reckless way, and we can make that change without forgetting who we are as a country and as a democracy.”Emboldened after overcoming impeachments in his first term, outlasting criminal prosecutions in between his two administrations and getting a tight grip on the GOP-led Congress, Trump has embarked on a mission to dismantle parts of the federal government, remake the relationship with America’s allies and slap on tariffs that have sparked a North American trade war.“It has been nothing but swift and unrelenting action,” Trump said of his opening weeks in office. “The people elected me to do the job, and I am doing it.”Trump, who has billionaire adviser Elon Musk orchestrating his efforts to slash the size and scope of the federal government, said he is working to “reclaim democracy from this unaccountable bureaucracy” and threatened federal workers anew with firings if they resist his agenda.Musk, who was seated in the House gallery, received a pair of standing ovations from Republicans in the chamber, as Trump exaggerated and shared false claims about alleged government abuse uncovered by the Tesla and SpaceX founder and his team of disrupters.Trump repeated false claims that tens of millions of dead people over 100 years old are receiving Social Security payments, prompting some Democrats to shout, “Not true!” and “Those are lies!”Trump spoke at a critical juncture in his presidency, as voters who returned him to the White House on his promise to fix inflation are instead finding economic chaos. All the gains the S&P 500 have made since Election Day are now gone, while consumer sentiment surveys show the public sees inflation as worsening.Trump seemed prepared to double down on his trade policies, which experts have warned will raise prices for consumers.“Whatever they tariff us, we tariff them. Whatever they tax us, we tax them,” Trump said. At the same time, he tried to ease concerns about the resulting price increases, saying, “There’ll be a little disturbance, but we’re okay with that. It won’t be much.”Trump said one of his “very highest priorities” was to rescue the economy and offer relief to working families. He promised to organize the federal government to lower costs on eggs and energy, blaming his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden for the situation and offering scant details of his own plans.Trump also called for the extension of his first-term tax cuts and additional federal funding for his border crackdown, including for his promised efforts at “mass deportation” of people in the U.S. illegally.He celebrated his crackdown on migration, saying, “But it turned out that all we really needed was a new president.”Speaking about his promised tax cuts, Trump seemed to goad Democrats, saying: “I’m sure you’re going to vote for those tax cuts. Because otherwise I don’t believe the people will ever vote you into office.”The backdrop was the new economic uncertainty unleashed after the president opened the day by placing stiff tariffs on imports from the country’s neighbors and closest trading partners. A 25% tax on goods from Canada and Mexico went into effect early Tuesdayostensibly to secure greater cooperation to tackle fentanyl trafficking and illegal immigrationtriggering immediate retaliation and sparking fears of a wider trade war. Trump also raised tariffs on goods from China to 20%.Republicans were boisterous as Trump stepped to the lectern in the House, chanting “USA! USA!” as the president basked in the cheers. The GOP lawmakers were jubilant, having won a trifecta of the White House, Senate, and House in the elections. However, they face the challenging task of delivering on Trump’s agenda as well as avoiding a government shutdown later this month.Across the aisle, out-of-power Democrats set the tone early, with most remaining seated without applauding or making eye contact with Trump as he was introduced in the chamber.After several interruptions, House Speaker Mike Johnson jumped in and called for decorum to be restored in the chamber as Republicans shouted “USA” to drown out the cries from the other side of the aisle. Johnson then ordered Texas Rep. Al Green removed from the chamber.“It’s worth it to let people know that there are some people who are going to stand up” to Trump, Green told reporters after being thrown out of the chamber.Other Democrats held up signs criticizing like “Save Medicaid” and “Protect Veterans” during Trump’s remarks, seeking to drive public awareness to elements of Trump’s agenda they believed might offer them a pathway back to the majority.Some Democrats chose to highlight the impact of Trump’s actions by inviting fired federal workers as guests, including a disabled veteran from Arizona, a health worker from Maryland, and a forestry employee who worked on wildfire prevention in California.Trump also used his speech to address his proposals for fostering peace in Ukraine and the Middle East, where he has unceremoniously upended the policies of the Biden administration in a matter of just weeks. On Monday, Trump ordered a freeze to U.S. military assistance to Ukraine, ending years of staunch American support for the country in fending off Russia’s invasion.Trump recited a letter he received earlier Tuesday from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying that the wartime president wants to come back to the table after a explosive Oval Office meeting last week broke down negotiations for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. “We’ve had serious discussions with Russia and have received strong signals that they are ready for peace,” Trump said. “Wouldn’t thatbe beautiful?”He also announced the arrest of a suspect in the 2021 suicide bombing at the Kabul airport that killed U.S. troops during the withdrawal from Afghanistan.Trump’s 1 hour and 39 minute speech was the longest annual address a president has ever delivered to Congress, breaking Bill Clinton’s record of 1 hour and 28 minutes.Watching from the gallery with first lady Melania Trump were guests including 15-year-old Elliston Berry, of Aledo, Texas, who was the victim of an explicit deepfake image sent to classmates.Other White House guests included relatives of Corey Comperatore, the former Pennsylvania fire chief who was killed as he protected his family during an assassination attempt on Trump last summer.Republican lawmakers cheered the conclusion of Trump’s address with chants that echoed his words after he was struck in the ear by a bullet: “Fight! Fight! Fight!” Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro, Stephen Groves and Kevin Freking in Washington, Darlene Superville in Kissimmee, Fla., and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report. Zeke Miller and Michelle L. Price, Associated Press
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