Lack of foreign workers in the job market worsen hiring challenges

Hundreds of foreign workers have gone missing from the job market as the coronavirus pandemic drags on, leaving huge gaps in white-collar jobs and more service-oriented professions. Newcomers from other countries and applicants for temporary visas were initially limited by policy changes under the Trump administration who used a series of executive actions to slow down many forms of legal immigration. In addition to these, pandemic-related travel restrictions and bureaucratic backlogs also caused a drop in immigration rates previously, threatening a long-term loss of talent and economic potential. 

Some of these workers missing from the labor pool would soon return as travel restrictions lift and visa processing backlogs clear. However, the recent loss in immigration due to the pandemic will likely leave a permanent hole. Goldman Sachs' research estimated this month that the economy was short of 700,000 temporary visa holders and permanent immigrant workers and that perhaps 300,000 of these workers would never return to the United States to work again. Employers have been consistently complaining that they are struggling to hire even when the number of job openings exceeds the number of unemployed people. However, the immigration drop is one of the reasons for the disconnect. Companies that are dependent on foreign workers have learnt that the different waves of infections and processing delays at consulates have kept workers back in their home countries or in America in a status of not being able to work. 

Source: The New York Times