U.S. employers are experiencing an unprecedented labor shortage. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported more than 10 million job openings from June to August 2021, which was more than double the historical average. 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.
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