Labor Shortage: Millions of Jobs Go Unfilled. Decline In Immigration Threatens Economic Growth
States losing population need migrants; regions need economic stimulation
NYT: "Immigrants helped make places like Northwest Arkansas economic dynamos. But their dwindling numbers, a big factor in slower population growth, could have long-term repercussions." Click. Legions of immigrants from El Salvador, the Marshall Islands, Mexico, India, and elsewhere answered the call to work in poultry production, trucking, construction, and computer programming.
“The United States over the past 10 years experienced the slowest population growth rate in eight decades, according to the 2020 census, because of plunging fertility rates and shrinking immigration.
“The surge of unauthorized migrants from Mexico and Central America is testing the Biden administration, but images can be deceptive: The vast majority of the single adults crossing the border to find work are quickly deported. And the flow of legal immigrants, whom Northwest Arkansas companies also heavily rely on, has fallen precipitously since the Trump administration clamped down on all kinds of immigration with the belief that it was displacing American workers.
“Now, business leaders are hoping that President Biden will make good on his pledge to overhaul the immigration system and establish a legal pipeline for foreign workers to take jobs in Northwest Arkansas and other places that depend on them.”
Here Are the States That Could Benefit Most from Migrant Labor. (Washington Post). “The Dakotas and Maryland lead the nation in labor shortage,” followed by Vermont, New Hampshire, Nebraska, Alabama, Maine, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Montana, Virginia, Tennessee, and Colorado. “The labor market is extremely tight around the country. In November, there were 9.5 million job openings but only 6.5 million unemployed workers, according to the latest data from the Labor Department.”