IMMIGRATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Jamaicans and other foreign workers have long powered the summer economy in the upscale tourist haven of Martha’s Vineyard, cleaning hotel rooms, waiting tables and mixing fudge. This year, many local businesses had to come up with a Plan B.
Facing a shortage of foreign laborers, local restaurants have reduced hours of operation and pared back menus. Managers are cleaning hotel rooms, laundry is piling up and at least one restaurant is using disposable cups to ease the dishwashers’ load.
The problem is a scarcity of the H-2B visas used to bring foreign seasonal workers to the U.S. It has affected many resorts and other businesses that depend on such workers, including Alaskan fisheries. Isolated locations such as Martha’s Vineyard—it has a tiny year-round population and is accessible only by ferry or plane—are especially vulnerable.
As President Donald Trump presses to restrict both illegal and legal immigration, citing the need to boost prospects for American workers, Martha’s Vineyard serves as a small-scale, real-time experiment in what can happen when labor markets that depend on foreign workers no longer have access to as many of them.
This summer, businesses here managed to muddle through. They remain open and have found temporary solutions, but the lack of visas disrupted the crucial summer season. It forced some local managers to hunt further afield for employees, and crimped profits.
Some employers recruited foreign workers through other means. And others say the crunch has pushed them to try harder to hire Americans—something opponents of the H-2B visa program favor.”
-Laura Meckler, “Do Businesses Need Foreign Workers? Martha’s Vineyard Is Finding Out,” The Wall Street Journal online, Aug. 10, 2017 10:42am