There is no shortage of serious problems in our society in need of Congress’s urgent attention. Few of them are being addressed in any meaningful way, owing to partisan bickering and deep-pocketed special interests that finance the campaigns of members of Congress.
Nevertheless, the Senate managed to find time over the past two months to “fix” a problem that does not even exist: a looming labor shortage in the U.S. In addition to a massive amnesty for an estimated 12 million illegal aliens, the Senate Gang of Eight bill included massive increases in future immigration and new skilled and unskilled guest workers.
America’s future labor force is already here. The problem is that Americans between the ages of 16 and 24 face a 16.3 percent unemployment rate. There are about 43 million people in the U.S. who fall into this age range, guaranteeing an adequate supply of workers to not only replace the baby boomers as they leave the work force, but fund the Social Security system.
The only caveat is that these 43 million people – nearly all of whom will want to work immediately, or in the very near future – need jobs. But rather than bringing this under-utilized cohort of American workers out of the shadows, Congress is pursuing immigration policies designed to bury them even deeper – a hole they may never dig their way out of economically or socially during the course of their lifetimes.