A Shortage of Seasonal Workers Is Feared
By EDUARDO PORTER

Published: April 10, 2004

Even as economists worry about the lackluster growth in employment, and politicians rail against the loss of jobs to overseas outsourcing, many employers across the country are sounding alarms about an impending shortage of foreign temporary workers this summer.

From roe processors in Alaska to innkeepers in Martha's Vineyard to landscaping contractors in Arkansas, businesses are beseeching Congress to raise the ceiling on the number of visas for seasonal workers.

…"Six hundred to 700 American jobs are at stake if I can't get the six foreign technicians that I need," said Larry Nelson, the president of Great Northern Sea Products. The company employs Japanese specialists during the summer at processing plants in Alaska to grade and sort salmon roe for sale in Japan.

Employers began writing panicked letters to members of Congress last month after the Department of Homeland Security clamped off this year's program of H-2B temporary visas for foreign workers, announcing it had reached the 66,000 limit, six months before the end of the fiscal year of 2004.

It is the first time since the H-2B visa program began 14 years ago that the annual limit has been reached, and the reasons are disputed. Employers and their Congressional supporters say that Americans often do not want the temporary positions, which provide no benefits and typically last for only a few months.

Those in the opposite camp say that the employers simply want cheaper foreign workers and could get local applicants if they simply paid more.