China News Service, April 8. According to a comprehensive report by the US "World Journal", at a time when almost all walks of life in the United States are short of people, the shortage of nursing homes is particularly serious.
The Wall Street Journal reported that nursing home staff has fallen by 19% since 2019, and as many as 99% of nursing homes said they did not have enough manpower last fall. One of the factors behind this is the reduction in immigration.
A labor economist at UC Davis noted that lower immigration has left the U.S. with 2.4 million fewer working-age workers than before 2017, or about 1 percent of working-age workers.
In the post-epidemic period, the US economy is gradually recovering, but many employers have difficulty hiring employees to fill the vacancies that have been laid off since the outbreak of the epidemic. The lack of manpower also makes employers feel the pressure of salary adjustment, which in turn affects inflation.
A Nigerian-born manager who runs a nursing home in Dallas said that it has been difficult for Nigerians to immigrate to the United States in recent years because of the tightening of visa examinations and the huge backlog of immigration cases after the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia.
Falling immigration has also hit the construction industry.
A San Antonio builder used to call an architect or a painter if he found it was short on staff before starting a new project, and asked if he could help find someone. The usual answer was "I have three cousins in Mexico who can help." Builders try to help apply for work permits.
The builder said that there are no immigrants at all these days, the demand for housing in the market has been rising, and the lack of work has caused all his expenses to increase significantly.
For example, he said, before the outbreak, the cost of paint work was about $6 per square foot, but now the price has risen to $7.50.
In the 12 months ending June 30, 2021, according to demographic data, only 247,000 immigrants moved to the U.S., less than a quarter of the number in the same period in 2016, and the same period in 2019. By contrast, the number of people is only half.
The data does not distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants.
Data from the Department of Homeland Security shows that the five countries with the largest number of green card holders: Mexico, Dominica, Vietnam, the Philippines and China, in the fiscal year ending in September 2021, compared with the previous two years, the number of green card issuance is about half or more. two thirds.
(Yan Lingru)