Solving the Next Labor Shortage

In the staffing business, you see it every day: There’s a job opening here, a need for a specialized role to be filled over there, and another four openings that folks can inquire about inside a business should they be looking for work down the street. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), there were 7.2 million open jobs in August 2025.

It remains a relatively low job open rate at just 4.3% – for now. The reality is that our nation is heading toward a potential labor shortage of our own making. Whether it’s on social media or in the newspaper, or even in our own Wisconsin communities, we’re seeing unsettling images coming from farms across the United States – empty fields, lettuce wilting, strawberries rotting, and agricultural products that should be reaching grocery store shelves left to die on the field. The produce left on the field was once picked by migrant laborers who were either rounded up in ICE raids conducted by the Department of Homeland Security, fled in fear of being rounded up, or were let go by farmers who desperately need the help but refuse the risk of being caught using workers who entered the country illegally.

Now, it’s important to note that what the Trump administration is doing is not a bad thing. We cannot be a nation without laws or borders. We witnessed years of the open borders crisis under Joe Biden, when millions of illegal immigrants crossed into our country, including criminals from terrorist organizations and gang members. It’s important that those criminal illegal immigrants are caught, prosecuted, and sent back to their home country. In that, President Trump has the support, with both Harvard and The New York Times finding that a majority of Americans are standing with this administration as it delivers on a major campaign promise.

However, immigration is far more nuanced than just sending people back across our borders. Immigration and migrant work are as vital to our labor force and economy as seeking the American dream in the land of opportunity is for those who so desperately want to start a new life in our country.

The reality is that migrant workers are key to a successful American economy. In case most don’t remember, we have lived this scenario once before during COVID. We saw the results of the pandemic’s impact on a migrant workforce in the agriculture industry, with meat-packing plants shut down for days, resulting in shortages of meat like chicken. Farmers were forced to dump their milk and kill their animals because there was nowhere to send them. Consumers were forced to deal with scarcity and higher prices as costs increased with demand.

Once again, the lack of workers in the agriculture industry is a threat to our nation’s food supply chain. But think about other industries. According to the American Immigration Council, nearly 55% of sorters and graders in the agriculture industry are migrants. Nearly 16% of nurses, more than 25% of health aids, and one in four construction workers are migrants. Furthermore, we know that the Trump administration has the ability to support our migrant labor force.

Two things can be true at the same time: We can support a robust migrant worker program that uplifts the American economy and our local industries, and we can uphold policies like closing the border, sending criminal illegal aliens back to their home countries, and ensuring our country is protected.

So the question remains, what do we do next?

Considering the fact that there’s a shrinking population growth and a shortage of talent already, coupled with deportations, there are fields hurting for workers. Most immigrants who are being deported from the United States are the ones taking jobs that no Americans want – they are the ones becoming electricians and truck drivers. But the reality is that the economy is only as good as your ability to produce.

I applaud President Trump’s efforts to bring jobs back to America, but if we seal the border, we will lose millions of people who could have filled the jobs we need to produce and grow our economy. We need to come up with a way to control legal entry into our country. In Washington State, farmers are facing a severe labor shortage, causing them to throw away nearly 25% of their crops because they don’t have enough manpower to get to them.

If we want to grow our economy and prevent the next labor shortage, we need policies that recognize and maintain the economic contributions of hardworking immigrants. We need to focus on people power and find ways to control and allow illegal immigrants to stay in our country through guest worker programs. One possible solution is to establish a system for locally managing guest workers, empowering states to issue visas based on their distinct economic demands. This could help bolster the economy without compromising security.

Right now, our country is at the precipice of a labor shortage, and it’s up to us to enact policies that will ensure our economy and workforce remain strong.