As the ice raids and massive deportations continue, labor shortages are inevitable, especially in the agricultural and construction industries. Estimates of the number of ice deportations vary from the official number of over 200,000, to about half that from independent sources. The number of self-deportations varies widely, from an official count of just over 100,000, to as much as a million being reported by some media outlets. And again, this is in roughly six months. If this trend continues, a labor shortage will be impossible to avoid.

And that brings us to this week’s topic. If there is one constant in the world, it is that government actions cause problems, and then the same government acts to solve those problems with government programs. In this case someone will propose a guest-worker program to flood the labor force with workers from south of the border. Fortunately, there is an example we can learn from, because the United States had a guest-worker program for twenty years. So if we are going to have a debate about bringing in temporary workers, then it is prudent to examine how it worked the last time.

Music by: Andrii Poradovskyi (lNPLUSMUSIC – Pixabay)

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