Introduction.

• Author: Brannon, Ike

The United States has been experiencing an unusual labor shortage for the last five years. Currently, the unemployment rate in some states is around 2 percent, a post-war low. Contributing to that labor scarcity, the number of legal immigrants arriving in the United States has fallen appreciably over this period. COVID and the resulting global restrictions on migration contributed to that decline in 2020 and 2021. But a good portion of the decline is the result of the Trump administration's deliberate policies to reduce both legal and illegal immigration, ostensibly motivated by the desire to preserve jobs for American-born workers.

To accomplish this, the administration worked to change several immigration rules. For instance, it worked to keep foreign-born college graduates of U.S. universities from staying and working in the United States. The administration also stopped allowing people with H-4 visas, which go to the spouses of people who receive H-1B visas, from working in the United States. And the Trump administration took steps to reduce the number of H-1B visas, which go to foreign workers who are specifically sought by American employers.

These efforts served to constrain the U.S. labor market at a time when employers across the country were finding it difficult to hire and retain skilled workers. Except for the spike during the COVID pandemic shutdowns, unemployment has been below 4 percent nationally since the spring of 2018.

While immigration remains a contentious issue in Congress, the skilled labor shortage continues to constrain the U.S. economy and constitutes a significant barrier to developing and growing new industries and job opportunities. This should make fixing immigration a priority. Members of both major political parties have acknowledged that the lack of skilled workers in the United States is hurting the broader...