The labor participation rate for working-age men in the United States ranks in the bottom three among developed nations in the world, according to a new report from the White House's Council of Economic Advisors. The report said that 88% of men between the ages of 25 and 54 are working compared to a high-water mark of 98% in 1954. Men with a high school degree or less are suffering the most and could worsen under efforts by several Members of Congress to increase the number of H-2B visas given to low-skilled foreign workers.
According to the report, while more than 90% of working-age men with a college degree or better are working, only 83% with a high school degree or less have a job.
The Council of Economic Advisors found that raising the wages of lower-skilled jobs boosted the labor participation rate among men. But Big Business routinely uses foreign guest worker programs, like the H-2B program, to keep wages down. A recent BuzzFeed investigative report looking into the H-2 visa programs found that immigration attorneys sell the program to businesses by claiming that it will boost their profits through lower wages.
"Around the country, lawyers and labor brokers actively promote the H-2 program as a way to boost profit margins. The H-2 program dates all the way back to 1952, and employers have been coming up with ways to game the system for almost as long." (BuzzFeed report, December 1, 2015)
The nation's largest unions have also pointed out that low-skilled guest worker programs depress wages for American workers. In a letter to Congress earlier this year, the AFL-CIO wrote:
Thousands of our members work in industries that are top users of the H-2B seasonal worker program. These industries include landscaping, hospitality, and construction. Misuse of the H-2B program harms them by artificially depressing wages, transforming permanent work to temporary, driving down labor standards, and contributing to unemployment in these industries.
While uncontrolled immigration is not the only cause for lower labor participation rates among working-age men, the Council did concluded that there is less demand from employers for low-skilled jobs.
"No single factor can fully explain this decline, but analysis suggests that a reduction in the demand for less skilled labor has been a key cause of declining participation rates as well as lower wages for less skilled workers," the Council of Economic Advisers said in the report.
For more on this story, see the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal.
