Labor Shortage Persists Through Tightened Immigration Policies

The U.S. labor shortage continues to hit the private sector hard, with a deficit of 7.5 million workers expected by 2020, according to a study by the American Action Forum.

The Dallas News reports that the shortage is being aggravated by a number of factors at home and abroad. Baby Boomers are reaching retirement age, and in 2017 the U.S. saw its fewest newborns since 1978, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Meanwhile, stricter immigration policies have caused migration from Mexico, both legal and illegal, to fall, leaving many employers without their primary source of workers.

The construction industry is being hit particularly hard by the shortages, with factors like hurricane rebuilding requiring even more laborers than normal.

"What we are seeing everywhere is a tight labor pool that's increasingly drying up and putting pressure on employers, leaving them in a bind," says economist Pia M. Orrenius. "The future workforce is moving away from undocumented workers because those workers are no longer there. Fewer are coming across the border. The economy will find a way to readjust somehow, but in the end consumers, who once benefited from undocumented workers, will pay more."

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