The tight labor market and rising inflation rates are not new headlines to most Americans. These subjects have been dominating the news for months, and politicians, lobbyists, and business owners on both sides of the aisle have voiced their concerns in all possible ways. Everyone has their opinion on how to curb inflation and reign in the tight labor market.
The Hill recently published a piece on how solutions to the US labor shortages may reside with immigration reform. The Farm Workforce Modernization Act recently passed the House in March, with 30 Republican votes and more bi-partisan support than most bills received in recent years. The bill was put forth to create avenues for more migrant workers to obtain H-2A seasonal agricultural visas and H-2B visas for labor, like hospitality and food processing.
Right now, the lack of labor in agriculture, hospitality, and food processing is hurting everyone. Farmers in both red and blue states are desperate for seasonal and year-round help to get their stock off the farms and onto shelves across the country. One of the main contributing factors to rising inflation is supply chain stalls, which immigrant workers can help with tremendously if allowed to obtain work visas.
The bottom line is that Americans do not want to work in agriculture; the wages are too low, and hospitality jobs are seeing higher and higher resignation rates than ever before. Meanwhile, thousands of individuals at our southern border are looking for work opportunities and pathways to obtaining legal work visas. Farmers, employers, and the hospitality industry have noticed how the solution to labor problems seems to be ready in wait. However, it is still undetermined whether the bill can pass the House and streamline US employers’ access to the migrant workforce they so desperately need.
For migrant workers, the flood gates of work placement opportunities may open if the new bill passes. And it will be extremely important for employers to have highly-optimized and visible positions poised to capture the attention of these migrant workers once they are granted their visas. While there is a chance the bill will go before a House vote this summer, it is still uncertain. Jobiak has worked with countless businesses across industries to help them optimize their online job posts to rank higher in Google searches and present the most valuable information to job seekers right within the search window. It would be naive to think that there won’t be competition amongst labor-starved industries to obtain migrant help, which is why it’s so important to have optimized open positions readily available once immigration policies change.
To learn more about how Jobiak operates, please click the link.
