The pandemic has impacted many aspects of the US economy. We are struggling with some huge labor shortages. Studies have clearly identified the lack of immigrant workers as a major drain on the labor force. Immigrants have been contributing significantly to the US long before and since Covid in every field, but they are projected to be even more valuable as U.S. born workers move into retirement ages in the next few years and as other US born workers continue to show low labor participation levels. In 2022 alone, foreign born workers have not only grown in larger numbers in the workforce, but some employers are desperately seeking them out to fill their labor shortages.
The labor shortage, especially after the pandemic, has changed cost production. It has “disrupted supply chains and other geopolitical events have limited the ability of suppliers to meet consumers’ demand,” the American Immigration Council reports. The United States labor shortage is making this imbalance worse, further increasing the price of goods and services to levels not seen in decades.
The meat and dairy industry has been seeking more immigrants on work visas and even requesting those visas to be extended. Immigrant workers have been central in America’s food supply conversation. The AIC explains, “ As many workers —both U.S.- and foreign-born —reach retirement age and leave the workforce, the meat and dairy industries will be increasingly hard-pressed to find enough workers. While meat and dairy employers rely on the H-2A and H-2B visa programs to fill jobs with temporary foreign workers, these visa programs are seasonal and do not meet the needs of what are non-seasonal industries.” Lack of immigrant workers has forced higher labor costs causing some farmers and meatpacking plants to close, decreasing supply of meat and dairy products and leading to yet higher prices due ito increased demand. Industry closures also threaten to financially harm many rural communities that rely on agricultural production for economic growth. As such, many meat and dairy owners are particularly interested in the movement to change seasonal visas for immigrant workers to year-round ones.
AIC reports 20% of the livestock production workforce are immigrants. The meatpacking industry sees 45.4% of their workers being foreign born, and in transportation, 26% are immigrants. The dairy sector has reported an even higher rate of immigrant workers, around 51%. Most foreign-born workers are young and thus help sustain the workforce by not reaching retirement age.
As the world moves faster into the technological age, the need for STEM workers to support the growth has increased in the US. Those in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields typically have the educational requirements for those jobs but the AIC found that immigrants exceed their American born counterparts in the STEM workforce in their preparation . “Even among STEM workers, who are among the most highly educated workers in the United States, foreign-born workers stand out. In 2018, while 67.3 percent of U.S.-born STEM workers held at least a bachelor’s degree, 86.5 percent of immigrant STEM workers held a bachelor’s or higher. Almost half, or 49.3 percent, of immigrant STEM workers held an advanced degree in 2019, compared to only 21.8 percent of U.S.-born STEM workers.” With higher qualifications. , it makes sense that the rate of immigrants in STEM is high. While women, both U.S. born and immigrants still see a lower percentage of involvement in STEM, the overall immigrant workforce in computer,
math, and engineering has increased from 17.7% in 2000 to 26.1% in 2019. Overall STEM immigrant workers have increased by 44.5% between 2000 and 2019. With specific numbers by country, the AIC has detailed that “Immigrants from India formed the largest country of birth group among immigrant STEM workers, at 28.9 percent of all foreign-born STEM workers in 2019. There were also significant numbers of STEM workers who were born in China (273,000), Mexico (119,000), and Vietnam (100,000).”
With high percentages of immigrants with advanced degrees available to meet the US labor needs in STEM, hiring immigrants is seems sensible. However, lack of temporary visas is hindering the process. “Any annual cap on the number of available green cards, H-1B visas, and other skilled talent visas hinders efforts to hire immigrant STEM professionals when no American workers are available.”
In the Boston Globe, Chair Jerome Powell explained the urgency, “The combination of a plunge in net immigration and a surge in deaths during the pandemic probably accounts for about [1.5 million] missing workers,” he said. He expanded on this point by noting that total immigration has slowed substantially since the start of the pandemic, lowering the labor force by about 1 million people relative to pre-pandemic trends.”
With immigrant contribution to the workforce increasing over the past 20 years but with current difficulty in passing bi-partisan immigration policies while dealing with this labor shortage, the future remains uncertain for the U.S. workforce and for immigrants, but more employers are recognizing the need and see how much immigrants do contribute. With an understanding of how the U.S. economy and workforce is supported by immigrants, employers and officials can understand not only the need for immigrants, but also for providing them pathways to citizenship.
When immigrant workers join the US labor force, they can further add to this country’s strength in innovation, resilience, and competence on the world stage. In 2021, 44 percent of Fortune 500 companies in the US were founded by an immigrant or the child of an immigrant.
