The leisure and hospitality sector has taken in nearly half the damage caused by the pandemic shutdowns. However, 2.5 million jobs have been lost since the beginning of last year.Lynn Minges, the president and CEO, North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association said that there aren't enough workers to fill these slots. She estimated that the industry has approximately 70,000 jobs in North Carolina.There are many factors that can contribute to this, but one of them is the difficulty in finding immigrant workers for certain jobs.Minges said that restaurants and hotels are closing their doors for a limited time and restricting their guests because they lack staff. This is also leading to fatigue and burnout in workers who must pick up the slack.Robert Melvin, director for government affairs at The Virginia Restaurant, Lodging & Travel Association, stated that the inability to access foreign workers is holding back everyone in a major way in the commonwealth.Kings Dominion, an amusement park in Virginia, 75 miles south of Washington, D.C., had to delay opening its water park until June, one month late, due to a labor shortage, and "the availability for seasonal associates."Melvin, who represents businesses along the coast of the state, stated that people are dying out because of the lack of labor.Critics say that the temporary work programs are a waste of American workers and can lead to underemployment. Senators Dick Durbin (D.Ill.), and Chuck Grassley, both Republicans, said that President Joe Biden's April announcement of a new work visa expansion was premature.However, business groups representing theme parks, restaurants and retailers have been pressing Congress to provide more H-2B guest worker visas. H-2B visas are also used by employers to fill temporary seasonal jobs such as forestry-related and seafood processing jobs.According to the National Retail Federation, the annual limit of 66,000 visas for this program is far below market demand.A second problem is the fact that many U.S. Consulates around the globe remain closed or have reduced hours due to Covid-19 risks. Officials warn of delays in visa processing that could prevent many foreign students and workers from visiting the U.S. on J-1 work visas.According to the State Department's 2019 data, more than 108,000 people participated in the program for summer work visas before the coronavirus severely restricted foreign travel.According to the most recent operations update by the agency, consulates and embassies were instructed to process employment visas last priority.According to the most recent data from the agency, there were almost 85,000 petitions for non-immigrant temporary workers at United States Citizenship and Immigration Services as of March 31st.Richard Burke, CEO, Envoy Global, an immigrant management company, stated that the economic impact of this event is not positive. This kind of perfect storm of high demand, tight [labor] supply and uncertain supply impacts all industries.Bipartisan efforts to reform H-2B have been intensified by fears that the shortage of foreign workers will slow down economic recovery. However, lawmakers have not been able to pass comprehensive immigration reform legislation for nearly 40 years.H.R. 3897 (117) was introduced in June by a bipartisan group of House members. It would exempt foreign workers who had previously participated in this program from the 66,000 limit on the number H-2B visas that are available each year.Although I knew it would be difficult, I decided to do the H-2B visa legislation, even though it was something that a wide [number] of groups supported and something that we needed to address," said Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), a co-sponsor for the Returning Worker Exception Act 2021. They won't be able fully recover if we don't have enough seasonal workers to work for many businesses. The two things that you need are capital as well as labor.Cuellar stated that he has reached out to Senator John Cornyn (Republican from Texas) in an effort to get legislation passed in the Senate. He also indicated that he is willing to include H-2B language later in this session in must-pass funding legislation, if lawmakers fail to garner enough support to pass it on its own.Biden's administration already attempted to address this issue by announcing in April that it would offer 22,000 more H-2B visas for this year. This was due to "increased labor demand" and 16,000 for guest workers returning from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.Employers, however, found that the extension was only a drop in a bucket. Two weeks after visas were made public, the Department of Homeland Security announced it had received enough petitions for the agency to reach the 16,000 limit for returning workers.Jon Baselice (Vice President of Immigration Policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce) said that while this is all great, it's still not enough to provide the workforce for every seasonal employer. These people are often small businesses.Washingtonians are skeptical about tapping into foreign labor. They point to the millions of people still without jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic.Durbin, who is the Senate Judiciary Committee's top Republican, and Grassley were the Senate Judiciary Committee's top Republican, stated that Bidens decision not to increase H-2B visas was not the right time.The pair released a statement in April, stating that they have long voiced concerns about the H-2B program's perverse incentives. They claim the H-2B program promotes lower wages and poor working conditions for American guest workers and immigrants. We hope the Biden administration and Congress will work together to reform this program so it is more beneficial for Americans as well as guest workers.According to business groups, with the seasonal demand returning and workers being sidelined by the pandemic, there is enough work for everyone.Our retailers are in demand of legal immigrants and workers of all kinds, stated Ed Egee (Vice President Government Relations at the NRF). We welcome the chance to [hire] both."
