U.S. Representative Lloyd Smucker (R-PA) recently introduced H.R. 5494, the Essential Workers for Economic Advancement Act, bipartisan legislation to address critical workforce shortages through new foreign-born workforce programs.
The legislation would create a new H-2C nonimmigrant visa, available to employers who prove their positions have gone unfilled for three consecutive months and in areas where the unemployment rate is 7.9% or less. This would be a temporary market-driven worker program adaptable to economic conditions and targeted at essential industries facing labor shortages.
The legislation has garnered the support of Reps. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), Tom Suozzi (D-NY), Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ), Mike Kelly (R-PA), Mark Amodei (R-NV), Andy Harris (R-MD), Don Davis (D-NC), Rich McCormick (R-GA), and Mike Kennedy (R-UT).
Argentum appreciates efforts to address critical workforce challenges across the country, including through the Essential Workers for Economic Advancement Act. The long-term care industry faces a significant uphill challenge to recruit and retain more than 20-million workers by 2040, when there will be peak demand for care of our aging population. We call on policymakers to advance across-the-board solutions, including new visa categories that will specifically target the long-term care sector and the many roles that it takes to make a community home, from direct caregivers to dining and hospitality, and everything in between.