Arizona E-Verify sign-ups top 18,000
Construction, hospitality, high-tech firms have the highest number of registrations

As the number of Arizona employers enrolled in E-Verify grows, a picture has emerged of the industries taking part the most in the federal worker-verification program.

Industries involved with construction, high-tech and hospitality are among those with the highest number of employers signed up for E-Verify. They also tend to be the industries with the most firms and employees, according to an Arizona Republic analysis.

Many of the industries that have been quick to sign up for E-Verify also are ones that employ significant numbers of immigrants. Those industries include construction, restaurants and hotels, according to experts.

E-Verify is a federal online computer system that allows employers to check if people are authorized to work legally in the U.S. and whether their Social Security number is valid.

Though E-Verify is voluntary at the federal level, Arizona’s new employer-sanctions law, which took effect Jan. 1, requires all employers in the state to use the program or risk losing their business licenses if caught knowingly or intentionally hiring illegal workers.

Since the sanctions law was signed in July, the number of employers in Arizona that have signed up for E-Verify has swelled from fewer than 500 to more than 18,563 as of Feb. 6.

Trade companies enroll

The Republic analyzed the 16,518 employers that had signed up for E-Verify through Jan. 20.

Specialty-trade contractors had the most employers signed up, with about 2,180, or 13 percent, of the total. Specialty-trade contractors are businesses that perform plumbing, painting, concrete, electrical and other types of construction work.

Anne Lyons owns Sun Valley Kitchens, a company in Phoenix that designs and installs kitchen cabinets.

She signed up for E-Verify in November as the date the sanctions law went into effect got closer.

“Just in case I needed to hire someone, I wanted to be prepared,â€