TL;DR
A study using a U.S. visa lottery reveals that limiting low-skill immigration reduces business growth without creating jobs for American workers.
✦ Why It Matters
Consider advocating for policy changes to increase H-2B visa availability to support business growth.
Key Takeaways
Full Summary
Research by Michael A. Clemens and Ethan G.
Lewis in the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics examines the impact of low-skill immigration on the economy. They focused on the H-2B visa, which allows temporary foreign workers in seasonal jobs, predominantly requiring no high school education.
The Immigration Act of 1990 set a cap of 66,000 H-2B visas annually, based on outdated assumptions. However, demand far exceeds this limit, with employers requesting 136,555 workers for only 33,000 available slots in late 2022.
The findings suggest that restricting low-skill immigration shrinks businesses and does not lead to job creation for native workers, challenging the narrative that limiting foreign labor benefits the domestic workforce.
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