(10-24-2021 10:42 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(10-24-2021 08:53 AM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  And that Cato article on trucking linked to another Cato post about the impact of immigration downturns on eligible workers.

Quote: One contributing factor to this shortage is that the U.S. government has issued about 1.2 million fewer visas to adult immigrants, refugees, and temporary foreign workers abroad since consulates were closed in March 2020 through July 2021 compared to the period from March 2018 to July 2019 before the pandemic.

In the 2018-19 period, 2.2 million work-eligible visas were issued to adults, and there were only about 1 million issued in the 2020-21 pandemic period. The 1.2 million fewer visas include about 14,000 adult refugees, 270,000 adult immigrants (permanent residents), and 872,000 adult temporary workers and their spouses eligible for work authorization (Figure 1). This estimate of the work-eligible population is somewhat conservative. Dependent children under the age of 21 were not included, even though some older kids could be authorized to work and find jobs. This also doesn’t include foreign international students on F-1 visas, even though they sometimes can work.

The article goes fairly in depth into the numbers - much more so than the summary I quoted above.

https://www.cato.org/blog/us-issued-12-m...march-2020

Ah, 1.2 million less. THAT is the problem. If we only had 1.2 million more workers, Taco Bell wouldn't have to cut back their hours.

I am fine with work eligible visas being issued - by definition they become legal immigrants. Maybe if the left didn't always use "immigration" to cover both legal and illegal immigration we wouldn't have this confusion.

Yes more "legal" immigration would have an effect on certain labor shortages. I started out asking about why fast food joints, restaurants, and Target were having trouble finding low level workers, and now we have solved the problem of finding scientists to work in Silicon Valley.

I guess I need to say this again. I have zero problem with legal immigration. One of my cousins is married to a Mexican who is a legal Permanent Resident of the US. I like and respect Miguel, who worked at a good job and did a good job. Miguel did not wade the river - he went through proper channels.

I guess it would help if you attached the modifiers legal or illegal when talking about immigration.

I find it hard to believe, though, that the problem is that when some Mexican applies for entry saying he wants to work in fast food in a tiny North Texas town, and some horrible bureaucrats says NO!.

I don’t think it would help to specify legal or illegal - not once has illegal immigration been offered up as a solution and I’ve always been talking about visa holders. That is an issue in your head only in this back and forth between me and you.

I don’t find it hard to believe the last paragraph when the data provided clearly shows that immigration is down across the board (these are numbers for legal immigrants entering the US).