These foreign workers are good for America

By Libby Whitley

In his Nov. 8 article, "House GOP seeks flood of foreign 'guest workers,''' WND news editor Leo Hohmann cited criticisms of the federal non-immigrant H-2B worker program as being anti-U.S. jobs and contributing to the expansion of America's current illegal-alien population. Nothing could be further from the truth. People familiar with the H-2B program know that if U.S. policymakers had been committed to making this important non-immigrant work visa program accessible and reliable after it was enacted in the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, America would not now have 15 million illegal aliens living and working here.

Let's look at the reality of the H-2B program. Seasonal industries as diverse as landscaping, hotels/resorts, tree planting companies, construction and food processing rely on the H-2B program to supplement their seasonal workforces when they experience a shortage of legal seasonal workers. H-2B employment is a minimal percentage of the hundreds of thousands of jobs in these industries. In fact, current estimates show that H-2B employment is less than one-tenth of 1 percent of total employment in this country. When an employer makes the commitment to use the H-2B program, it's because he is located in an area where there is a labor deficit – he cannot locate sufficient legal workers to handle the work he has available, not because he prefers 'cheap, easy foreign workers.' The program is neither easy nor cheap.

Why can't employers hire U.S. workers, especially with such a high national unemployment rate? Many companies are located in rural areas or areas with general labor shortages, and our population is aging and unaccustomed to physical labor. The bottom line is that most seasonal jobs are considered undesirable by U.S. workers – hard, hot, outdoor, manual labor. In choosing to source seasonal workers through the H-2B program, an employer makes a strong commitment to abide by U.S. laws prohibiting the employment of illegal aliens. Every H-2B worker comes to the U.S. on a legal 9-month-long work visa, and he/she can only work for the employer who has been approved by three different federal agencies to employ H-2B workers.

Contrary to claims that some H-2B jobs are "middle class," Department of Labor statistics do not support this assumption. Over half the annual H-2B jobs (less than 42,000) involve cutting grass and planting shrubs, and another third are tree planters, traveling carnival workers and hotel workers.

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Notwithstanding the shortage of unemployed individuals willing to work at manual labor jobs, the underlying principle of the H-2B program is that U.S. employers must preferentially offer the H-2B jobs to U.S. workers and hire every qualified applicant before being allowed to employ H-2B temporary workers. When employers find such workers, they hire them.

So, far from taking U.S. jobs, relying on temporary seasonal H-2B workers frees H-2B employers to promote their regular U.S. workers into better-paying, year-round jobs. Studies have shown repeatedly that every H-2B foreign worker supports three to four "upstream" jobs filled by U.S. workers. The H-2B program makes, not takes, U.S. jobs.

Another familiar objection is that "H-2B jobs depress U.S. wage rates." Again, facts don't bear this out. Before the government allows a U.S. employer to employ H-2B workers, the Department of Labor requires that he pay a wage rate that is uniformly higher than "prevailing" entry-level wage rates for the industry and location the work will be performed. DOL's figures indicate that the average national H-2B wage rate is $12.50/hour (not including overtime) for jobs such as cutting grass, changing beds or seafood processing. Regulations require that this H-2B wage rate be paid to every worker in the H-2B job category, not just the foreign H-2B workers.

The H-2B program is neither easy to negotiate nor cheap. It takes as long as five months to prepare, file and process an H-2B application through one state agency and three federal departments. Additionally, employers are regularly subjected to expensive and time-consuming Department of Labor compliance investigations. Employers of U.S. workers, especially illegal workers, don't incur these costs.

Also, unlike illegal aliens, H-2B workers make a positive contribution to the U.S. economy and are not a burden on public services programs. H-2B workers are subject to U.S. income and payroll taxes. H-2B workers are not eligible to participate in social services programs, and, while it is technically possible that they can be accompanied by non-working spouses and children, it is rare that they bring families with them to the U.S.

The H-2B visa is non-renewable and issued for a maximum stay of nine months. While H-2B program detractors claim that "there is nothing more permanent than a temporary worker," studies do not support the assertion that H-2B workers jump their contracts and stay illegally in the U.S. The vast majority – in the experience of this author around 98 percent – of H-2B workers come to the U.S., perform the seasonal work and return to their homes and families at the end of the nine-month period. Fewer than 1,500 workers in a given year might stay in the U.S. out-of-status. We believe that if H-2B workers wanted to come illegally to the U.S. and stay, they have every opportunity to do so. But they don't; they want to work here legally, return home and come back again – legally – the following year.

The biggest problem with the H-2B program is that visa issuances are capped at 66,000 admissions each fiscal year. The members of Congress and senators who recently introduced the "Strengthen Employment and Seasonal Opportunities Now (SEASON) Act" recognize the important public policy objective of assuring industries the ability to source foreign workers legally as long as they can demonstrate insufficient legal workers to fill their to fill critical seasonal labor needs. Since current estimates suggest H-2B accounts for one-tenth of 1 percent of total employment in this country, increasing the H-2B cap limitation by the number admitted last year will hardly inundate America with low-cost, low-wage, unregulated aliens. The H-2B program deserves to be strengthened for the betterment of the US economy.

Libby Whitley is president of MASLabor, the largest employers' H-2A/H-2B agency in the U.S.