Here’s Why U.S. Lawmakers Need To Address Immigration

As The Manufacturing Institute’s Stephen Gold pointed last week in an op-ed in IndustryWeek, the U.S. birthrate currently is 1.66, below the rate at which a country’s population can sustain itself. Another factor that will make finding workers more difficult by 2037, individuals younger than age 18 will account for only 20.6 percent of the population while those 65 and older will account for 21.7 percent.

To ensure employers continue to have the workers they need, Gold said U.S. lawmakers must make changes to the country’s legal immigration system. The Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI) has been arguing for those changes.

Specifically, MSCI recently joined the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (USCC) and more than 400 other organizations in sending a letter to members of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate asking them to make specific, bipartisan changes. The letter, which is available here, said Congress should:

• Increase the human, physical, and technological resources along the southern border and at ports of entry;
• Sensibly reform the country’s asylum laws;
• Institute modern, effective, and efficient employment verification reforms;
• Significantly increase the annual quotas for employment-based immigrant and nonimmigrant visas;
• Expand the scope of essential worker programs, specifically allowing employers to meet temporary labor needs for non-seasonal jobs; and
• Create new visa options for international students, entrepreneurs, and other high-demand workers to help American employers meet their critical workforce needs.

MSCI encourages its member company leaders and employees to make their voices heard on this important issue.

If interested, you can do so by using this USCC portal through which you can send a letter to your U.S. senators and representative in the U.S. House that argues, “American employers of all sizes and across a host of industries are facing chronic workforce shortages that significantly limit the ability of their businesses to grow” and advises that Congress “enact solutions that secure our borders and modernize our legal immigration system.”