Migrants helping fill 'well-documented worker shortage' in Massachusetts, Healey says

BOSTON — An influx of migrants into Massachusetts has helped fill a “well-documented worker shortage,” Gov. Maura Healey said Tuesday during a speech to leaders of some of the region’s largest and most influential businesses.

Thousands of families have arrived in the Bay State over the past year, which has put a strain on emergency services and contributed to the skyrocketing cost of running state-funded shelters. Healey said the new arrivals are helping shore up companies looking for employees.

Nearly 700 job placements have been made by the Healey administration since November, the governor said.

“That doesn’t count for the hundreds of folks, who after getting their work authorization, have already gotten jobs on their own,” Healey said. “There are jobs that are not getting filled and now they are and we’re putting people on the path to work and out of this system.”

Healey has long argued that speeding up the work permit application and approval process for immigrants is key to reducing demand on the emergency shelter system, which was set up in the 1980s under a law that requires the state to provide temporary housing to families with children and pregnant women.

About half the current population of 7,500 families in the system are considered migrants who have lawfully entered the United States through one of a handful of federal programs. The rest are local residents, according to the Healey administration.

Just over 3,500 migrants, refugees, or asylum seekers in the shelter system have filed applications for work authorizations, according to a report released last week by the Healey administration. About 2,700 have the necessary documents, the report said.

Healey pointed to Thrive Support & Advocacy, a Massachusetts-based company that works with young people and adults with developmental disabilities.

The organization, Healey said, has struggled to fill open positions in a sector that has a job vacancy rate of around 25%. Fewer employees at Thrive Support & Advocacy means less services for families, the governor said.

But CEO Sean Rose “discovered a new talent pool” late last year — work-authorized immigrants living in temporary emergency shelters, Healey said.

“Thrive has hired 14 recent immigrants and is ready to hire 10 more with the assistance of our team. Now, the wait lists are shrinking, parents are missing fewer days of work because a larger staff at Thrive can offer more programming during the day,” she said.

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