Labor Sec’y Walsh: Worker Shortage Due to Lack of Immigration Reform a ‘Bigger Threat’ in Some Cases Than Inflation or Recession

On Tuesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Labor Secretary Marty Walsh argued that “we’re going to have to have a real serious conversation in this country about immigration and immigration reform” in order to address the shortage of workers which is, in some cases, “a bigger threat to our economy than inflation is at this point, than a recession.”

Walsh stated, “Well, the first thing is we don’t have enough workers in the United States of America to fill all of the job openings that are out there. Right now, at this moment in time, more Americans are working in this country than in any other period in the history of America. So, when you think about the amount of jobs and people that are working, it’s a really incredible number. The problem is that we don’t have enough people. There [are] about five million people, I think, still, roughly…that are either looking for work or just not in the workforce, for a whole host of reasons, illnesses, child care, whatever it might be. So, at some point, we’re going to have to have a real serious conversation in this country about immigration and immigration reform. And when I talk to big business in America and I talk to businesses, every single one of them, to a person, says to me, we need to — we’re going to have to think about this long-term and how do we deal with these issue[s].”

He added, “I think, in this country, when you think about our economy, you think about our country, there [are] two sides in immigration. We don’t want immigration — or we’d like to see legal immigration. The problem is, in America, if we don’t have workers to fill these jobs, it’s going to hurt our economy overall. And if you have six million jobs, let’s just play with that number right now, let’s assume six million jobs that, if everyone went to work in America tomorrow that was eligible — or not even eligible, but they went to work, we have six million job openings. As you just said, it’s going to hurt business in our country, it’s going to hurt our economy, and in some cases, I think it’s a bigger threat to our economy than inflation is at this point, than a recession.”

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