Revamping U.S. Immigration Policy for Skilled Workforce Growth

U.S. Visa Limits: A Barrier

The U.S. needs to remove the limit they have on employment-based visas. For generations, immigrants from China, India, and the Philippines have brought with them hypercritical expertise. The number of visas issued to immigrants from those countries places limits on bringing skilled workers to the United States, that can help the U.S. economy prosper and grow. When highly skilled immigrants wait for visas because they are coming from a large country, it discourages highly qualified candidates from wanting to come to the United States. The wait times for not-so-highly-skilled immigrants from smaller countries are shorter, and what you are actually bringing into the country is a lower-quality worker. The United States needs to find a quick and effective way to issue visas to highly skilled workers to be able to enter the United States labor market as quickly as possible. (18)

Conclusion

A change to the current immigration policy would help the visa categories the United States has established give priority to highly skilled immigrant workers. Even without immigration reform, the government should implement a plan that would expedite the visa process. Just that one change would help meet the needs of the changing labor shortage that would benefit the economy of the country. That one change would still make a difference. To improve the immigration policy, the government and business owners will have to cooperate.

Business owners have to inform the government about how the current immigration policies are benefiting them or hurting them when it comes to labor shortages and filling jobs. Employers need to figure out what immigration policy changes would benefit their own companies and make lawmakers aware of how the immigration policy in place is affecting their business growth. It would allow the public and private sectors to come together and reform the current immigration policies to boost the economy and grow the U.S. workforce. It would create a workforce in which immigrant workers would be able to work jobs that the aging population is leaving. They would help increase economic growth without taking jobs from the American workforce. (19)

Recommendations

There is a crisis in the labor market in the United States due to labor shortages. The solution to the labor shortages in the United States is to reform the Immigration Policy. Reform has to be placed on the American system of issuing work visas. The United States is cheating its economic growth by not issuing adequate work visas. The limits placed on the visas issued and the labor shortages are ensuring the path for an economic disaster. The cap for STEM fields is 85,000 visas. Worker immigrants filed 2000,000 petitions were submitted during the first five days of the visa application opening window. There were 115,000 jobs still left open because of the limit on the visas that were issued. The 115,000 applicants were highly qualified and could have taken the 115,000 jobs left, but due to the current Immigration Policy, that is not possible. (20)

A report that was released in June 2018 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics states that American employers are looking to employ workers. However, there are no workers to fill in those jobs. The only possible way to stop labor shortages is to increase the influx of immigrant workers to the United States. It is crucial to fill job openings in the United States. The only way to do that is to bring workers from outside countries and increase the number of visas issued. The country is facing critical times in its history. In the year 2035, the elderly population of over 65 outnumber people. An aging population group has fewer people paying Medicare and Social Security taxes. In turn, there will be more people receiving those benefits, yet no one to pay them to support them.

It is forecasted that the Medicare and Social Security funds will be empty by 2034. There is an urgent need for healthcare workers. The United States will not have enough healthcare workers by the year 2025 to be able to care for its aging population. The healthcare field today consists of immigrants. For the United States to increase its revenue, the United States has to reform its Immigration Policy. The United States has a low GDP growth. It has increased its public debt.

The economy can’t grow without growing its labor workforce. A strong economy can only happen by increasing the number of immigrant workers. (21) The Immigration Policy needs to change for employers to be able to hire immigrant workers that can come and be contributors to the United States economy. It would be a great start to increase the number of visas issued. The United States is not able to reach its economic potential without immigrant workers that work here. (22)

References:

1. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2018). Employment report for June 2018. U.S. Department of Labor.