Email: keshelman@niskanencenter.org
Washington, D.C., August 15, 2023 – The Niskanen Center is proud to endorse the bipartisan State Executive Authority for Seasonal Occupations Needing Additional Labor (SEASONAL) Act. Introduced by Senators John Thune (R-SD), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Pete Ricketts (R-NE), and John Hickenlooper (D-CO), the bill is designed to meet one of our country’s most pressing economic issues: labor shortages.
The SEASONAL Act empowers governors to address the workforce needs in their states by petitioning the federal government for supplemental H-2B visas for short-term workers to fill critical, longstanding gaps in the American labor market. The bill includes safeguards to protect American workers by requiring governors and employers to demonstrate that the domestic workforce cannot meet the labor need and that Americans will not be displaced or paid less because of the hiring of temporary migrant workers.
“No one understands the labor needs of a state better than its governor,” said Niskanen’s Cecilia Esterline. She continued, “States experiencing chronically high numbers of unfilled jobs and low unemployment must be able to meet their needs more efficiently using temporary immigrant labor, and the SEASONAL Act is a step in the right direction.”
American economic growth and recovery have been repeatedly stalled by the labor shortages of the last several years. The SEASONAL Act could play an essential role in fixing that. We encourage continued bipartisan collaboration to ensure that states and local communities have timely access to this critical relief.
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The Niskanen Center is a 501(c)(3) advocacy organization established in 2014 to change public policy through direct engagement in the policymaking process.