ALBANY— The Business Council represents a wide range of employers in New York. Our members include the New York Farm Bureau, the New York Hospitality and Tourism Association, the Manufacturers Association of Central New York and many individual businesses who depend on their ability to attract immigrant workers.
The absence of comprehensive immigration reform at the federal level has left many New York businesses without the means to attract and retain a workforce and fully contribute to their community's economic vitality.
What does this lack of a fluid immigration policy mean to New York employers?
The inability for agricultural employers in New York to be able to access in real-time H-2A visas – the visas used to secure seasonal agricultural employees – meant crops in some parts of New York went unplanted, some orchards were plowed under, with less land in production.
New York agricultural employers pay far above the minimum wage – on average over $12 an hour – and their inability to attract employees is legendary. H-2A visas were intended as a way to help agricultural employers, especially in states with limited growing seasons like New York, to utilize foreign talent for their seasonal needs. Unfortunately the H-2A option is no longer a viable resource for talent – as it is bogged down in bureaucratic processes, artificial visa caps, rendering what could have been a solution, - meaningless.
To make matter worse, dairy farming – the largest component of New York's agricultural sector – is not considered seasonal employment and is shut out of the H-2A visa process all together. That means the supply chain is constrained by the inability to get the product to market, affecting not just farmers but processors, grocery stores and consumers.
Across New York State, including New York City, our tourism sector represents a significant part of our state's bottom line. The H-2B Visas -- used for seasonal employment such as restaurants, hotels and resorts – are equally constrained by artificial caps on the numbers of visas which can be issued and a bureaucratic process which does not reflect the real-time need of employers looking to access this talent.
The artificially low caps, along with the increasing national demand for H-2B visas meant many New York employers this year were unable to operate at full capacity. Remember that these jobs can only be filled after an employer has demonstrated that there are no Americans available for the positions being filled. So the caps on these visas hurt everyone – employers from keeping their businesses at full capacity, foreign workers unable to secure seasonal employment, and communities which benefit from increased sales tax and other revenue.
And finally – H-1B Visas used to bring in skilled talent also suffer from the same problems. Among our state's largest users of H-1B visas are our premier research and university facilities and the health care sector. Both sectors are critical to our overall economy but also critical to keeping New York competitive in the global marketplace. Competing globally means having the ability to access talent worldwide – and to be able to do that we need policies which reflect the value we have always placed in New York State on the role immigrants play in our economy.
Let's be clear that even with these problems – the business community is not enamored with proposed regulatory reform for the H-2A and H-2B visa programs announced earlier this year by the US Department of Labor. These regulations do not deliver on the Department's promise to simplify and shorten the application process in a way that New York employers can effectively use these tools. They also change the role the state agencies have played in helping our employers who use these visas ensure they are in compliance and operating within the law. We value the role played by our state agencies in helping our employers meet their needs and do not support the wholesale change proposed in these draft regulations.
Even if these draft regulations are not finalized by the end of this Administration – it is incumbent upon Congress to assume its leadership role in immigration policy. New York businesses – from Buffalo to Plattsburgh to Montauk need reasonable policies which recognize the role immigrants can play in helping keep our economy vibrant.
These remarks were first delivered to the Partnership for New York City and The New York Immigration Coalition on July 28, 2008 in New York City. Representatives Charles Rangel (D-NY), Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) and Joseph Crowley (D-NY) took part. In addition to these remarks several BCNYS members explained to the representatives that talented employees are being hired in overseas locations rather than the U.S. because the H1B process is too cumbersome.