Virtual Testimony:


Transcript: An act relating to professional licensure and immigration status

Good morning, and thank you, Chair Michael McCarthy, Vice Chair Matthew Birong, Ranking Member Mark Higley, and all members of the committee for inviting me to testify today about Vermont House bill 606, which would allow individuals to qualify for professional or occupational licenses regardless of their immigration status.

In the following testimony, I will provide brief commentary about the ongoing and increasing need for additional immigrants in the labor force in Vermont and the value of expanding credentialing to all those who otherwise qualify for professional and occupational licenses. I look forward to answering any questions you may have.

I likely do not have to tell you that Vermont is facing an oncoming workforce crisis. No other state has a smaller share of its population in their prime working years1 and in November 2023, 19,000 jobs lay vacant in Vermont, yet in the same month, only 7,544 Vermonters were unemployed.2 Even if every unemployed Vermonter’s skills, interests, and location perfectly aligned with the requirements of the open jobs, Vermont would still have over 11,000 unfilled positions. Unfortunately, such a perfect match-up rarely exists, and many individuals lack the skills, background, or licenses required to fill open positions, and the problem may only worsen.

In nursing alone, in which a state license is required to practice, Vermont will need 9,000 new nurses over the next five years to meet current trends in demand.3 In the meantime, the persistent vacancies across all Vermont industries continue to undermine the efficiency and productivity of the local economy and create supply chain delays that can impact consumer experiences and business continuity nationwide.

At the Niskanen Center, we believe that the labor challenges facing our employers can be met by focusing on three key objectives: fostering an environment that is capable of retaining the existing workforce, bringing in external talent when needed, and most of all, maximizing the productivity and participation of the talent we already have.

Attracting talent from other states and countries may soon become an essential tenet of Vermont’s labor strategy, but in the meantime, recognizing the existing expertise and qualifications of already-present workers could be immensely beneficial and provide a much-needed boost to the local labor market.

The Vermont Office of Professional Regulation manages licensure for over 50 occupations, including engineers, chiropractors, barbers, cosmetologists, radiology technicians, nurses, and landscape architects.4 Other agencies also manage licensing for plumbers, electricians, teachers, medical doctors, and attorneys. While each occupation has requirements and eligibility criteria, barring otherwise qualified individuals from licensure based on citizenship or immigration status creates unnecessary hurdles for workforce integration and skill maximization.

In Vermont, nearly 20 percent of workers are required to obtain a license to legally practice their occupation, so recognizing immigrant qualifications would level the barriers to entry and empower the existing immigrant workforce to participate more fully in the Vermont labor market.5

At the same time, ensuring immigrant access to licensed professions could boost Vermont’s attractiveness as a destination for incoming immigration. House Bill 606 would, therefore, not only ensure that immigrants who are otherwise qualified for professional and occupational licenses are not forced into underutilization based on immigration status alone, but it could also encourage new talent to come to Vermont with the promise of better jobs.

Research tells us that immigrants already fill important gaps in the U.S. labor market and supplement the small pools of Americans who graduate with requisite skills in certain key industries.6 Immigrants are more responsive to labor market needs than native-born workers and are more internally mobile, meaning that they are able to relocate to areas where the labor needs are greatest, whether it is within the United States or individual states.7 Visa requirements often ensure that immigrants rebound rapidly in times of job loss,8 and because they did not have the same access to unemployment benefits, immigrants returned to work faster than their native-born counterparts during the COVID-19 outbreak.9

Given these immense benefits of immigrant participation in the labor market, maximizing their utilization and capitalizing on their expertise is imperative.

Unfortunately, however, underutilization is rampant and is most prominent in occupations for which licensure is a requirement of practice. For instance, during the COVID-19 pandemic, while our hospitals and healthcare staff were stretched to their breaking point, an estimated 263,000 immigrant health professionals across the country were underutilized, out of work, or in jobs with significantly fewer educational requirements.10 If we had been able to capitalize on the skills and prior training of these immigrants, we would have been able to provide significant relief to the many doctors, nurses, and support staff who worked around the clock to provide lifesaving care during the pandemic.

Underutilization of this magnitude does not just impact the medical field. Any licensed occupation is vulnerable to inducing underutilization if entire groups of workers are locked out of licensing eligibility based on arbitrary criteria that do not impact their performance and expertise.

On a national level, under-utilization costs college-educated immigrants $39 billion in lost wages and costs federal, state, and local governments more than $10 billion in unrealized tax receipts.11 Even immigrants who do not have college degrees but have significant experience or expertise in sought-after trades could significantly impact Vermont and the United States if they were allowed to participate fully in the labor market and utilize their skills and education to fill critical vacancies.

As Vermont prepares to address the labor needs of its future and looks to external populations to remedy its growing demographic challenges, attracting skilled immigrants who want to come to Vermont and be productive members of our communities will be paramount. Vermont will compete with other states and countries for the talent it needs, and other states have already taken steps toward better credentialing of immigrant workers. These steps will maximize the productivity of their immigrant workforce and attract new skilled workers to their state. Colorado and Utah have both taken action on this in recent years, and I applaud Vermont for considering doing the same.12

Credential recognition and occupational licensing should be based on the quality of a potential worker’s experience and his or her knowledge and qualifications. Without permitting immigrants to fully participate in the labor market in this way, we are missing out on business growth and development, economic activity, and critical workforce integration.

Thank you again for allowing me to speak with you today, and I welcome your questions on this matter.

  1. Ben Casselman and Jeanna Smialek, “Vermont May Be the Face of a Long-Term U.S. Labor Shortage,” New York Times, November 12, 2023. ↩︎
  2. “Unemployment Insurance Program Data Dashboard,” State of Vermont, Department of Labor, November 2023. ↩︎
  3. Jack Thurston, “Vermont leaders call for focus on ‘crisis’ of nursing staffing levels,” NBC, WPTZ Burlington, January 3, 2022. ↩︎
  4. Professions, Vermont Secretary of State, Office of Professional Regulation. ↩︎
  5. Occupational Licensing in Vermont, Institute for Justice. ↩︎
  6. “Do Immigrants Work In Riskier Jobs?,” National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information, August 2009.; Foreign-Born Students and Workers in the U.S. Science and Engineering Enterprise, National Science Board, National Science Foundation, 2020. ↩︎
  7. Matthias Schündeln, “Are Immigrants More Mobile Than Natives? Evidence from Germany,” December 2007. ↩︎
  8. H-1B Specialty Occupations, USCIS. ↩︎
  9. Rakesh Kochhar and Jesse Bennett, “Immigrants in U.S. experienced higher unemployment in the pandemic but have closed the gap,” Pew Research Center, July 26, 2021. ↩︎
  10. Jeanne Batalova, Michael Fix and Sarah Pierce, “Brain Waste among U.S. Immigrants with Health Degrees: A Multi-State Profile,” Migration Policy Institute, July 2020. ↩︎
  11. Jeanne Batalova, Michael Fix and James D. Bachmeier, “Untapped Talent: The Costs of Brain Waste among Highly Skilled Immigrants in the United States,” Migration Policy Institute, December 2016. ↩︎
  12. “SB21-077 Remove Lawful Presence Verification Credentialing,” Colorado General Assembly, 2021.; “S.B. 35 Reciprocal Professional Licensing Amendments,” Utah State Legislature, 2023. ↩︎