Businesses across the US have been making the same appeal for years: Let’s admit more immigrants to ease a severe labor shortage and fill jobs that Americans don’t want to do.
So as migrants poured over the southern border during pandemic-era upheaval, the influx might have seemed like a potential solution to a problem that by the end of this decade could lead to $1.75 trillion in unrealized economic output. All of a sudden big cities were filled with large numbers of people eager to work and start on building their own version of the American dream.
That not how it’s played out.
The newcomers who qualify for work permits have often struggled to secure them, because the government bureaucracy has been overwhelmed. Business groups say the process is broken and are ramping up calls for changes to bring in more workers through legal channels.
Some 9 million positions are open across the economy, equal to 1.4 vacancies for every unemployed worker. The worst-affected industries are trying to figure out the best way to make themselves heard.
R&I Rawr
PragDem