White House Economic Plan Puts Migrants Ahead of American Families; U.S. Business Owners Pay Premium to Hire Migrant Workers in Extremely Tight Labor Market, and related stories

White House Economic Plan Puts Migrants Ahead of American Families:

President Joe Biden’s White House is prioritizing jobs for migrants above helping many millions of poor Americans get decent jobs, according to priorities in its annual “Economic Report of the President.”

A growing share of men are not even trying to find jobs, the baby boom generation is retiring, and there are fewer young Americans, said the Biden-endorsed report, which listed several “Options to Boost the U.S. Labor Supply.”

The report’s first option for raising the number of workers is “Increasing Immigration” — not helping Americans get decent jobs. It says:

Overall, research also suggests that the effects of newly arrived immigrants on the wages and employment of the domestic population are quantitatively very small, and that the fiscal effects of immigration are generally positive.

Vast evidence shows migration cuts family wages and spikes housing costs, yet the report also urges an amnesty for at least 11 million “undocumented individuals” and the importation of many more white-collar visa workers for the jobs needed by U.S. graduates:

immigration reform that provides a path to citizenship for the estimated 11 million undocumented individuals would help to increase the labor supply … Additional immigration reforms could include removing per-country caps on employment, expanding diversity lottery visas, and expanding the J-1 exchange visa program, which would bring additional faculty, scientists, and students to the United States for training and sharing knowledge and method

The report’s second option is the nation’s traditional policy of rewarding investors and CEOs who find, train, and employ their fellow American citizens, including the least-qualified, least-employable workers.

Yet even this second option in the report — “Drawing More [American] Adults into the Labor Market ” — is portrayed as an opportunity for more government intervention, not as the normal workplace bargaining of growing companies and wage-seeking employees in a tight national labor market. —>READ MORE HERE

U.S. Business Owners Pay Premium to Hire Migrant Workers in Extremely Tight Labor Market:

Migrants who come to the U.S. to find work are now being hired more quickly, at higher pay and under better working conditions than at any time in recent memory. In many cases, employers and economists say, migrant workers are being paid as well as their American counterparts.

Job vacancies in the U.S. increased to 11 million at the end of December, according to the Labor Department. While the tightness appears to be easing in the white-collar job market, employers say finding hourly wage workers remains a challenge. Unemployment hit 3.4% in January, the lowest rate in 53 years. Many small businesses say they are unable to hire enough native-born and naturalized workers and are paying a premium for migrant workers.

It’s another aspect of the hot labor market that is pushing up wages and prices for consumers, keeping pressure on the Federal Reserve to continue raising interest rates to fight inflation.

A shortage of cooks and dishwashers prompted Luis Reyes, owner of Washington, D.C., restaurant Lauriol Plaza, to distribute fliers in subway stations and at bus stops in neighborhoods with large migrant communities.

“The scarcity is huge,” Mr. Reyes said. “It’s a terrible stress. Many times I suffer from insomnia thinking about what we are going to do to give service.” —>READ MORE HERE

Follow links below to related stories:

South Carolina Republicans Seek Professional Licenses for Biden’s Migrants

Migrant workers reportedly secure better pay as US employers scramble to hire

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