With a total of 517,000 jobs added last month and total employment estimates revised upwards, the country now has its lowest unemployment rate in more than half a century.
The numbers cooled recession fears, and while some economists and policymakers worry that robust labor force earnings will send us into an inflationary tailspin, inflation indicators have actually turned positive, although hiring numbers have remained resilient. Perhaps some of the conventional wisdom about the need to bludgeon wage and job gains to quell inflation is not so common sense after all.
It is common sense to use a pool of available, ready, and willing labor to fill a strong labor need. Waiting the legally required six months between applying and being issued a work permit, thousands of asylum seekers languish as they beg for a chance to fill available positions and support themselves while they await the process.
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In a broader sense, hundreds of thousands of refugees around the world want nothing more than to come to the United States and rebuild their lives here through hard work and entrepreneurship, filling and creating jobs and transforming the economy into a more prosperous country for the better make whole country. But a general lack of urgency on the part of the Biden administration has kept approvals down and put people at risk, rather than ensuring the relative safety and prosperity of the US
There have been some positive signs of late, such as the launch of a State Department program that allows groups of private individuals to directly sponsor refugees. This should be just one of many initiatives to rebuild the refugee pipeline. Congress needs to intervene on a number of issues, including removing the silly waiting period for asylum seekers to get work permits, and perhaps finally moving towards reforming labor migration routes.
We can do what is right for those fleeing violence and persecution, and we can do what is right for our economy. Win-win situations are rare in public policy, and it’s worth embracing.
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