UMKC Report: Kansas meat industry largely dependent on immigrant labor
A new study about the role that immigration has in Kansas’ workforce is pretty eye-opening. The study by UMKC professor Peter Eaton says immigrants in Kansas make up only 6 percent of the state’s population, but they comprise 8.8 percent of the state’s employment, the Kansas City Business Journal reports.
And, Eaton found, immigrant labor is a huge component in the Sunflower State’s meat industry. The report says a whopping 70 percent of Kansas butchers are immigrants. He told the Biz Journal that without foreign-born workers coming to Kansas, “It is altogether possible that, without immigrant labor, the meat processing industry of southwestern Kansas would cease to exist.”
You can read the full UMKC report here.
In related news, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach announced that he is running for re-election next year.
