The Impact of Guest Workers in an Economy
Jennie Shen 3A
With the new coming of age as modern civilization starts to make rapid progress towards advancement, many countries will try to look for shortcuts in the increasing need to heighten market demands and achieve the goal of becoming the most prosperous and successful country. America tries to fulfill this goal by uprooting a system of employing guest workers, a foreign laborer working temporarily in an industrialized country, in the states. Right now, as the nation is facing economic turmoil, falling in debt and the danger of a fiscal cliff, the government is trying their best to look for many alternative ways to provide and improve the current economic system. In order to boost the economy back to standard levels, America is striving for ways to hire and implement a guest worker system to supplement and provide for the economy and to reinforce that guest workers can make a positive impact on society.
When taken in context, many citizens have the perception that guest workers or foreign workers are those that work in the agricultural field, working in hard labor under harsh conditions and receiving low pay. Undoubtedly, that information is true, but there is also another side to the story. According to UE international, the foreign working system has been implemented a hundred years ago between 1900 and 1920. During that time, Mexican workers were recruited to work for mines, railroads, construction and agriculture in the U.S. It was a desperate time for industrial labor but also a time of new vision in the labor movement, for the U.S. was trying to achieve international solidarity. The Industrial Workers of the World or IWW was an international union group, hoping to unite all workers of any class or race and to abolish the wage system in order to create equality among all workers. It was a way to create better foreign relations with other countries, a new age of peace and acceptance.
Currently, requests to hire foreign workers are on the rise because of one reason, “foreign specialty workers,” who are highly skilled workers that are capable of applying for specialty occupations due to a minimum of a bachelor’s degree. The regulation requires the worker to have a highly specialized knowledge in a subject such as architecture, engineering, mathematics, physical sciences, medicine etc. These workers are employed through the H-1B visa, a temporary visa allowing employers the liberties to hire non-immigrant workers (Ernst, George). The duration of their stay can range from three years and extendable to six years, sometimes also possible to opt for a green card and become permanent residents if they have an approved I-140 immigrant petition. The employment of these foreign workers will help improve economic state, such as improving education, sciences and innovation. It also provides additional staffing when certain occupations are low on duty. It’s a safety precaution for the economy.
Each fiscal year, there is an annual cap of 65,000 H-1B visas available because the government has to keep a safe limit in how many foreign workers enter in and out of the country. It’s a way to keep track and the cap is to impose the amount of jobs needed and are available. In previous years such as 2009, the cap was never reached because of a significant decrease in demand, studies show that it might be a result of the impact of the recession which continued to 2011 (Ernst, George). Despite the low rates, current trends demonstrate that as of May 18 of this year, there has been a substantial increase in the number of H-1B petitions documented at the US Citizenship & Immigration Services. The numbers have doubled compared to the year 2010, clearing pre-recession levels. The growth reflects that the economy is improving, becoming globally competitive once again because filing an H-1B visa takes both time and money, something a weak economy will not be able to provide because of a lack of monetary resources to support a cause. The process of filing an H-1B petition is not simple, the legal government costs in sponsoring a foreign worker are expensive and the handling of paperwork takes both time and effort (Ernst, George). As this process continues, there is hope that employers are feeling more confident in hiring more guest workers and becoming more productive as employers strive to improve economic conditions and exert the effort needed to benefit for the common good. Another reasoning behind an improving market is that many of these “specialty workers” are employed to work for computer-related occupations. This increase in activity represents the country’s continual of being innovative and the demand to to be competitively strong in terms of technology and business.
Another aspect that the guest workers help the economy is by providing aid for the agricultural system. The current trend for now is that farm owners need Hispanic workers at a cheap rate to sustain the agriculture industry. The guest worker program are able to provide that resource and supply workers to help (Rousmaniere). However, the cost of hiring cheap labor are noticeably high and farmers are having trouble affording it, and as a result, farms will eventually have to shut down due to the inability to maintain itself. This would impose a threat on the economy because many of these immigrant workers legal or illegal make up roughly 1.8 million of the nation’s farmworkers. They are the work force that provide agricultural resources for the nation, without them, the industry would not be able to survive, claims Rousseau from the fox News article. The employment of cheap farmhands has other benefits such as saving the industry up to $9 billion in annual production, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation (Rousmaniere). The immigrants prove to be a strong workforce that not only provides but also sustain economic stability.
As a nation, America is still maintaining as one of the top industrial country of having the biggest technological advancement. This is a representation that the wealth and spirit of the country has not subsided, that it still has the adequate resources to advance and function. According to the resources, the employment of guest workers are essential in sustaining and improving the economy. America has proven that employment of guest workers can provide many benefits for the health of a society because they are the key workforce that helps generate growth, allowing the economy to thrive.
WORKS CITED
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