Late July saw the commencement of a Biden-led initiative across North America to improve immigration pathways from central America to the USA and Canada. According to US News, this will improve safety levels for impoverished migrants and take power away from exploitative smugglers. While aimed most directly at those fleeing persecution or looking for better work prospects outside of their country of origin, there will be a knock-on impact when it comes to the issuance of work-related visas and the overall makeup of the migrant labor market.
Seasonal agriculture
One of the most impactful visa schemes concerns the H2a visa – or, short-term agricultural. According to the UCIS, approximately 140,000 workers have applied for H2a meaning they have the legal right to reside in the US during high-demand agricultural periods. The immigration flow from central America is likely to place pressure on this; the type of work that new numbers of people arriving in the UK are likely to undertake is agricultural and other low-skilled work. That being said, there are exceptions to this rule of thumb in terms of the work and skills that migrant workers can provide and are now providing to help with key shortages in the USA.
Shortcomings in tech
CNBC reports that for every unemployed computer worker in the country there were up to 7 vacancies – a stark representation of the skills gap currently impacting American businesses. Migrant workers under different visa schemes fill an entirely different role to those seasonal workers and continue to be sought after. The previous administration put barriers on this group coming and working in the USA, and so work is being done now to rebuild confidence and attract new generations of high-skilled workers. Combined with other groups of economic migrants, these individuals are potentially crucial to the USA maintaining its place at the helm of world trade.
Long-term growth
According to one analysis conducted by fwd.us, long-term and high immigration is key to the USA remaining a trade power. Countries to challenge the USA for that mantle, such as China, have a huge and diverse workforce that perhaps does not need inward migration to continue to grow. This isn’t true for the USA, which has a steadily declining birth rate outside of immigration and a skills pool that is drying up due to the workforce getting older and older. Being open and welcoming of migrant labor is absolutely crucial for the country going forward, and may well be a key point of influence in the minds of those within the federal and state administrations when they are creating their new immigration plans for the future.
Arguably, the USA’s economic recovery and onward growth relies on immigration. Migrant workers provide a vital lifeline to many areas of the economy and allow for work to continue even when the native workforce is unable to maintain productivity. These lessons are true now, and will continue to be relevant for the foreseeable future.