As DeSantis moved immigrants, Florida businesses fight for workers

(CNN Business) –– For the past two years, Jan Gautem has had to do sporadic cleaning replacements at hotels in Orlando, Florida, which are managed by Interessant Hotels & Resort Management (IHRMC).

When he’s not making beds, he has to run the business. He is the President and CEO of IHRMC, which is headquartered in Orlando, Florida.

“I was making beds a couple of days ago. It’s very hard to find employees,” Gautem said.

Right now, the United States has 11.2 million job openings, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A figure that exceeds the 10.8 million last year. As of July, there were 1.5 million jobs in the hospitality sector. And IHRMC notes that 60% of its 4,500 employees left the company during the pandemic, many to work from home. Now Gautem and other managers have taken over: in housekeeping, kitchen and reception.

That’s why some owners Business leaders in Florida were stumped when Governor Ron DeSantis sent asylum seekers from San Antonio, Texas, to Martha’s Vineyard on two flights earlier this month.

“Why do they send them there when we need people here?” asks Gautem.

Asylum seekers can legally work in the United States while they await the resolution of their cases. During that period, these people can request work permits, a process that usually takes six months before they are authorized.

DeSantis said he believes the asylum seekers were trying to “come to Florida” from Texas. To use money from a $12 million state taxpayer-funded program to get immigrants out of Florida, the planes made a stop there. Whether the asylum seekers intended to come to Florida or not, business owners in that state have shown signs that they would welcome them.

“We have a huge labor shortage in Florida, basically in every industry. It’s hard to see people willing to work leaving your state with tax dollars,” said Jessica Cooper, owner of Sugar Top Farms, outside Orlando. .

There are more than 670,000 asylum seekers in the United States waiting to have their cases heard, according to research from Syracuse University. That wait can last, on average, four and a half years.

DeSantis said he plans to use the entire $12 million in state funds to get immigrants out of Florida.

Lack of domestic workers

They investigate the transfer of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard 1:23

Cooper runs a small farm with her husband Jordan. They grow produce and edible flowers that they sell to local restaurants around Orlando and Disney World. They only need a handful of farm workers to pick and plant crops, but even those positions are hard to fill.

“We’ve found that it’s hard to retain domestic workers. This is hard work. It’s not for everyone,” Connor explained.

The agricultural sector has long relied on foreign labor and visa programs. Precisely, as national workers are less willing to perform physical labor. Agriculture is the second largest economic area in Florida after tourism.

Both sectors offer relatively low wages, making it difficult to attract workers in a competitive labor market. The hotel and leisure sector pays an average of $20 an hour, while farm workers earn an average of $18 an hour. Now, in the case of construction, the average wage of $35 an hour isn’t the problem: it’s an aging workforce. The average age of a construction worker is 55, retiring at 61.

Asylum seekers are on average 35 years old and tend to be younger than the average age in the United States, according to the Department of Homeland Security. This is a population that could help strengthen an aging American workforce.

“We have an aging workforce that hasn’t been replaced with younger individuals,” said Michele Daugherty, president of the Central Florida chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors.

The group said it would be willing to hire asylum seekers to help with labor shortages.

“We have to exhaust all options,” Daugherty added. “If they can legally work here, we have jobs for them. We have opportunities for them not only to take care of themselves, but also of their families.”

Immigration to fight inflation

Last week, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by another three-quarters of a percentage point. Precisely a sign that the central bank is still trying to control annual inflation of 8.3%, while food prices and rents rise. But the increases also drive up rates on Americans’ mortgages, student loans and credit card debt.

Increased migration to the United States could be a good tool, argued Bill Ackman, a billionaire hedge fund manager and activist investor. In a series of tweets last week challenging the central bank, Ackman said: “Doesn’t it make more sense to moderate wage inflation by increasing immigration than by raising rates, destroying demand, putting people out of work and causing a recession?

A Texas A&M University study backs up that claim, citing that more immigrant and H2A visas for foreign workers are associated with lower inflation. Furthermore, a new report from the National Foundation for American Policy says that rising immigration is not taking jobs away from Americans.

“The research examined labor markets where more temporary foreign workers were employed before the pandemic and found that the drop in H-2B program admissions did not boost labor market opportunities for U.S. workers, but if anything, made them worse,” the report said.

Gautem says current immigration policy is hurting his business instead of helping it. Florida granted permanent political asylum to 7,101 asylum seekers between 2018 and 2020, just behind California and New Jersey. For example, in 2020 that was 9.3% of all asylum seekers in the state.

Gautem believes that if more asylum seekers are granted permanent status, it will be “a turning point” for the longevity of his business and workforce.

“These people are here. They can start working and they can really start supporting their families. And of course help us,” he said.

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