Reason #5612 That Trump Was Elected

Maine Town Resorts To Hiring Americans As Visas Run Out

That really sounds like something out of The Onion, doesn’t it? I mean, a headline like that one has to be satire. And yet it’s a very real story brought to us by The Daily Caller this week. Their title, while a bit more direct, has the same impact. “Shortage Of Foreign Labor Forces Maine Businesses To Hire Local Workers.” The location is Bar Harbor, Maine, and yes, my friends… the struggle is real.

Businesses in Bar Harbor, Maine are turning to locals to make up for a shortage of foreign guest workers that normally fill summer jobs in the bustling seaside resort town.
Because the H-2B visa program has already reached its annual quota, Bar Harbor’s hotels, restaurants and shops can’t bring in any more foreign workers for the rest of the busy summer tourist season. Like hundreds of similar coastal resort towns, Bar Harbor has for many years depended on the H-2B visas for temporary workers. The program allows non-agricultural companies to bring in foreign labor if they are unable to find suitable employees domestically.
Now they are coming up with creative ways to attract local labor, reports the Bangor Daily News.

The use of temporary “guest worker” programs is problematic to begin with (at least for some of us) but at least on paper these jobs seem to qualify. If you look at the qualifying conditions for the program, so-called “seasonal work” is a valid reason to seek out H-2B visa holders. Still, in a capitalist society, it rings a bit of a sour note when you see a system which is actively built on using foreign workers before exhausting all possible hires of citizens.

I know, Trump hasn't clamped down on the H-2B visas. In fact, he's increased them by 15,000, and use them at Mar-a-Lago. He should be careful, because that's not why he was elected. There's a fine line between not having enough labor, and not being willing to pay what the market will bear.