Immigrant workers could fill labor shortages

As reported widely and experienced everywhere from schools to construction, companies across the United States can’t find enough employees in the COVID-19 economy. Nicole Narea in Vox suggests: bring in more foreign workers.

When the economy is fragile, there’s an instinct to shut borders to protect American workers. And indeed, that’s what the US has done during the pandemic, practically bringing legal immigration to a halt and closing the southern border to migrants and asylum seekers. In a normal year, the US welcomes roughly 1 million immigrants, and roughly three-quarters of them end up participating in the labor force. In 2020, that number dropped to about 263,000.

These instincts counter long-standing economic research that has shown the arrival of low-wage foreign workers has little to no negative impact on native-born workers’ wages or employment. It also overlooks a pressing need for certain types of work that could be alleviated.

MHC