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Washington, D.C.— Yesterday, the House Small Business Committee heard from small business owners and immigration policy experts on the challenges that small firms face meeting their labor needs and the potential solutions offered by immigrant labor. The hearing allowed Committee members to examine the current immigration system and look for ways that immigration reform could work to the benefit of small businesses. 

“When small firms can’t hire the workers they need, small businesses can’t reach their full potential - and neither can our economy,” said Chairwoman Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY). “Clearly, the system can and should be working better.” 

Small businesses in the US are responsible for hiring nearly 60 million people to fill their workforce needs. They are often at a disadvantage to their larger corporate counterparts when it comes to attracting and retaining employees. As they struggle to find American workers, many small businesses have turned to immigrant labor to find qualified individuals to fill their vacancies. As the economy creates new jobs, experts predict that the native-born workforce can’t keep pace. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that an additional 11.5 million new jobs will exist by 2026 with only 7.9 million new nonimmigrant workers being added to the labor pool during the same time frame. 

As labor shortages have persisted, businesses in industries like agriculture, construction, and health care have turned to the H visa program to make up for shortfalls in the current workforce. However, the visa program has come with its own set of challenges. At the hearing, witnesses testified that the inability to bring in an adequate number of foreign workers is hurting their business. 

“Issues with the visa cap the past few years, and especially this year, are having a devastating effect on our company,” said Derek Shoare, Senior Vice President of Challenger Sports Corp. in Lenexa, KS. “Revenues are down, and expenses are up...we're facing layoffs, and not replacing workers who resign, because the company cannot provide promised training services to our clients, which means they stop utilizing our other services, as well.”

“We are being forced to turn projects down for lack of workforce which is causing slowdowns in commercial and residential construction,” said Nick Sabino, President of Deer Park Roofing in Cincinnati, Ohio. “Construction schedules are stretching out due to the shortages, which increases costs that are ultimately passed on to consumers. Customers continuously voice complaints about the difficulty of getting construction work scheduled and completed in a timely manner.”

Immigration policy experts also testified that the labor shortage issues expressed by the business owners on the panel were being felt broadly in the U.S. 

“With the unemployment rate less than 4 percent and job openings exceeding available workers, small business owners across America are facing the same tight labor conditions as other employers,” said Daniel Griswold, Senior Research Fellow and Codirector, Trade and Immigration Project at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.  “A recent survey of small business owners found that more than a quarter of them identified immigration policy as their top concern.”

“Employers are beginning to sound the alarm: in many industries, there are not enough workers to get the job done,” said Dan Wallace, Director of Special Projects at New American Economy. “In 2018, 46 percent of U.S. employers reported that they were struggling to find enough workers – up from just 14 percent at the height of the recession in 2010.”

Members of the Committee stated their commitment to working towards comprehensive immigration reform would help to ease the workforce issues plaguing small firms. 

“Our current immigration system is broken and out of sync with the realities of our workforce. Small businesses and farmers are unable to make decisions and are left to bid for themselves,” Chairwoman Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY). This is no way of treating our small business community. As we continue to work towards comprehensive and common-sense immigration reform, it is vital that we not forget the challenges they face every day.”

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