The government of President Joe Biden announced Monday that it will reserve for citizens from Central America a portion of the 20,000 temporary work visas it will offer this winter due to the country's labor shortage.
The United States faces a
particular economic situation
caused by the financial crisis derived from the COVID-19 pandemic, a record number of Americans leaving their jobs and the struggle of companies to fill vacancies.
Construction workers in Houston, Texas, on March 15, 2021 David J. Phillip / AP
The Biden Administration had already expanded 33,000 visas for those hired during the first half of the fiscal year, which runs from October 1 to March 31.
But the situation has forced the Government to adopt extra measures.
In this context, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) explained that the H-2B visa program will allow US companies to temporarily hire foreign nationals to perform "non-agricultural work or services."
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Among the new temporary work permits, DHS will reserve more than
6,000 visas for people from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador
, as well as Haiti.
"DHS is taking steps to protect US businesses and create opportunities that expand legal avenues of access to the United States for workers from the Northern Triangle countries and Haiti," Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement.
People are more selective when it comes to accepting a job, experts say
Nov. 9, 202102: 57
On the other hand, he pointed out that in the coming months his department "will try to apply policies that make the H-2B program respond even more to the needs" of the country's economy.
American employers face a situation unprecedented for months,
desperately searching for workers
.
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October marked an all-time high with 11 million job openings, but in November [latest data available] only 210,000 people were hired, less than the 535,000 analysts expected.
The process for local companies to
employ foreign workers is long and expensive
.
In addition, there is a limited number of temporary work visas, which are divided into seasons: spring and summer, and fall and winter.
With information from
CNN
and
Axios
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