H-2B Workers Have Positive Impact on Many Resort Areas, Report Says

Here’s a great report from NAR’s  Senior Regulatory Representative, Russell Riggs

ImmigrationWorks USA and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have teamed up to develop a positive report on the H-2B program.  The report – “The Economic Impact of H-2B Workers” – concludes that many areas and economic sectors of the country, including resort areas, would be unable to thrive as a result of the H-2B workers that come to the U.S. on a temporary basis.  The report uses economic analysis and anecdotal case studies to examine the impact of H-2B workers and concludes that, contrary to critic’s claims, the program does not depress the  wages of U.S. workers in similar occupations and H-2B workers do not take jobs from their U.S. counterparts.

The report also makes some recommendations on how to improve the program:  cut burdensome regulations that make the program difficult for employers to access and streamline employee processing procedures.  These types of changes will make the program more effective for companies and workers and make it more responsive to changing labor markets.  Here’s hoping that the shake-up in Congress draws attention to the this important program.

Read the entire report at http://www.immigrationworksusa.org/index.php?p=1 .  The report, in PDF format,  is listed in RED in the right-hand column of the page and is called IW-Chamber H-2B report.