Thursday, April 26, 2007
Tweet[IWS] CRS: IMMIGRATION OF FOREIGN WORKERS: LABOR MARKET TESTS & PROTECTIONS [24 April 2007]
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
Congressional Research Service (CRS)
Order Code RL33977
Immigration of Foreign Workers: Labor Market Tests and Protections
April 24, 2007
Ruth Ellen Wasem, Specialist in Immigration Policy, Domestic Social Policy Division
http://www.opencrs.com/rpts/RL33977_20070424.pdf
[full-text, 24 pages]
Summary
Many business people have expressed concern that a scarcity of labor in certain
sectors may curtail the pace of economic growth. A leading legislative response to
skills mismatches and labor shortages has been to increase the supply of foreign
workers. While the demand for more skilled and highly-trained foreign workers has
garnered much of the attention in recent years, there has also been pressure to
increase unskilled temporary foreign workers, commonly referred to as guest
workers.
Those opposing increases in foreign workers assert that there is no compelling
evidence of labor shortages. Opponents maintain that salaries and compensation
would be rising if there is a labor shortage and if employers wanted to attract
qualified U.S. workers. Some allege that employers prefer guest workers because
they are less demanding in terms of wages and working conditions, and that
expanding guest worker visas would have a deleterious effect on U.S. workers.
The number of foreign workers entering the United States legally has notably
increased over the past decade. The number of employment-based legal permanent
residents (LPRs) has grown from under 100,000 in FY1994 to over 250,000 in
FY2005. The number of visas for employment-based temporary nonimmigrants rose
from just under 600,000 in FY1994 to approximately 1.2 million in FY2005. In
particular, "H" visas for temporary workers tripled from 98,030 in FY1994 to
321,336 in FY2005.
The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) bars the admission of any alien who
seeks to enter the U.S. to perform skilled or unskilled labor, unless it is determined
that (1) there are not sufficient U.S. workers who are able, willing, qualified, and
available; and (2) the employment of the alien will not adversely affect the wages and
working conditions of similarly employed workers in the United States. The foreign
labor certification program in the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is responsible for
ensuring that foreign workers do not displace or adversely affect working conditions
of U.S. workers.
President George W. Bush has stated that comprehensive immigration reform
is a top priority of his second term. His principles of reform include a major overhaul
of temporary worker visas, expansion of permanent legal immigration and revisions
to the process of determining whether foreign workers are needed. These issues were
addressed in legislation (S. 2611) passed by the Senate in the 109th Congress and are
emerging again in the 110th Congress. The challenge inherent in this policy debate
is balancing employers' hopes to increase the supply of legally present foreign
workers without displacing or adversely affecting the working conditions of U.S.
workers.
This report does not track legislation and will be updated if policies are revised.
Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Key Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Labor Certification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Labor Attestation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Brief History of Labor Certification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Permanent Employment-based Admissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
LPR Labor Certification Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Program Electronic Review Management (PERM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Temporary Employment-Based Admissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
H-1B Visas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
H-1B Dependent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
H-2A Visas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Required Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
H-2B Visas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Summary of Labor Market Tests for Workers on H Visas . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Funding Foreign Labor Certification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Selected Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Certification versus Attestation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Protections for U.S. Workers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Fraudulent Claims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Enforcement Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Small Business Concerns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Subcontractors and Multinational Companies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
List of Figures
Figure 1. Permanent Employment-based Admissions for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Preferences, 1994-2005 . . . . 4
Figure 2. Temporary Employment-based Admissions, 1994-2005 . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Figure 3. Appropriations for Foreign Labor Certification, FY1998-FY2007 . . . 15
List of Tables
Table 1. Selected Foreign Temporary Worker Labor Market Tests and Protections . 14
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
Congressional Research Service (CRS)
Order Code RL33977
Immigration of Foreign Workers: Labor Market Tests and Protections
April 24, 2007
Ruth Ellen Wasem, Specialist in Immigration Policy, Domestic Social Policy Division
http://www.opencrs.com/rpts/RL33977_20070424.pdf
[full-text, 24 pages]
Summary
Many business people have expressed concern that a scarcity of labor in certain
sectors may curtail the pace of economic growth. A leading legislative response to
skills mismatches and labor shortages has been to increase the supply of foreign
workers. While the demand for more skilled and highly-trained foreign workers has
garnered much of the attention in recent years, there has also been pressure to
increase unskilled temporary foreign workers, commonly referred to as guest
workers.
Those opposing increases in foreign workers assert that there is no compelling
evidence of labor shortages. Opponents maintain that salaries and compensation
would be rising if there is a labor shortage and if employers wanted to attract
qualified U.S. workers. Some allege that employers prefer guest workers because
they are less demanding in terms of wages and working conditions, and that
expanding guest worker visas would have a deleterious effect on U.S. workers.
The number of foreign workers entering the United States legally has notably
increased over the past decade. The number of employment-based legal permanent
residents (LPRs) has grown from under 100,000 in FY1994 to over 250,000 in
FY2005. The number of visas for employment-based temporary nonimmigrants rose
from just under 600,000 in FY1994 to approximately 1.2 million in FY2005. In
particular, "H" visas for temporary workers tripled from 98,030 in FY1994 to
321,336 in FY2005.
The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) bars the admission of any alien who
seeks to enter the U.S. to perform skilled or unskilled labor, unless it is determined
that (1) there are not sufficient U.S. workers who are able, willing, qualified, and
available; and (2) the employment of the alien will not adversely affect the wages and
working conditions of similarly employed workers in the United States. The foreign
labor certification program in the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is responsible for
ensuring that foreign workers do not displace or adversely affect working conditions
of U.S. workers.
President George W. Bush has stated that comprehensive immigration reform
is a top priority of his second term. His principles of reform include a major overhaul
of temporary worker visas, expansion of permanent legal immigration and revisions
to the process of determining whether foreign workers are needed. These issues were
addressed in legislation (S. 2611) passed by the Senate in the 109th Congress and are
emerging again in the 110th Congress. The challenge inherent in this policy debate
is balancing employers' hopes to increase the supply of legally present foreign
workers without displacing or adversely affecting the working conditions of U.S.
workers.
This report does not track legislation and will be updated if policies are revised.
Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Key Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Labor Certification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Labor Attestation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Brief History of Labor Certification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Permanent Employment-based Admissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
LPR Labor Certification Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Program Electronic Review Management (PERM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Temporary Employment-Based Admissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
H-1B Visas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
H-1B Dependent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
H-2A Visas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Required Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
H-2B Visas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Summary of Labor Market Tests for Workers on H Visas . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Funding Foreign Labor Certification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Selected Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Certification versus Attestation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Protections for U.S. Workers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Fraudulent Claims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Enforcement Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Small Business Concerns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Subcontractors and Multinational Companies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
List of Figures
Figure 1. Permanent Employment-based Admissions for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Preferences, 1994-2005 . . . . 4
Figure 2. Temporary Employment-based Admissions, 1994-2005 . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Figure 3. Appropriations for Foreign Labor Certification, FY1998-FY2007 . . . 15
List of Tables
Table 1. Selected Foreign Temporary Worker Labor Market Tests and Protections . 14
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
# posted by SBasefsky : 4:22 PM
