Worker Shortage Tied Directly To Donald Trump's Anti-Immigrant Policies

The federal reserve says that America is currently experiencing a worker shortage of about 3.5 million people, and a new report shows that roughly half of that shortage could be have been made up if not for Donald Trump's anti-immigrant policies. Migrant workers are actually vital to the US economy - a fact that economists have acknowledged for decades. Ring of Fire's Farron Cousins explains what happened.

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*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.

According to the Federal Reserve, the United States right now is experiencing a worker shortage of about three and a half million workers, which means we got jobs out there available just waiting for people to take 'em. Three and a half million at least we just don't have the people for it. And economists know exactly who is to blame and why. That person is to blame to no one surprise. The person to blame, of course, is Donald Trump. Again, according to economists. And the reason he is to blame, and I'm gonna add a second reason later, but the reason he is to blame, they say, is because of his anti-immigration policies while he was president. See, as it turns out, and I've mentioned this plenty of times here on Ring of Fire, economists have been mentioning it for decades, and that is the fact that our economy here in the US is actually dependent upon immigrants coming into this country and taking the jobs that Americans simply don't want to take.

Either the labor is too backbreaking, maybe the pay is not good enough. Maybe you're holding out for something better, whatever it is, maybe the hours are terrible, whatever it is, immigrant, let me just read it. I'm not even gonna offer an analysis. I'll just read you what the economists say. Immigrants aren't just workers. They're particularly flexible mobile workers who help address acute labor shortages wherever they emerge. And that's particularly important in this constrained economy we're facing right now. HuffPost goes on to say they provide a flexible worth workforce and are often willing to do jobs. Americans turn down such as low paying, physically demanding work in the hospitality, agriculture, construction, and healthcare industries. And that is the truth actually. I always like to point to this example because it's the perfect example. Um, about 10 little over 10 years ago, maybe the state of Georgia had a huge crackdown and cut down on the number of migrant workers they allowed into the state.

Well, if you're not familiar with Georgia, it's a big farming state. So what happened was that farmers lost millions of dollars collectively. I think actually the state lost billions almost, um, because nobody was available to, to pick the crops. Nobody was working the fields. They couldn't find workers in Georgia because they stopped letting the migrants come in. Now, after this happened, they immediately said, oh, crap. They let 'em start coming back in, and the economy eventually rebounded, as did the farmers. But that one year, right, that one particular instance is the perfect example as what happens now. The other side of the coin here is that these migrant workers, immigrant workers are also treated exceptionally unfairly. They're put through in incredibly hazardous conditions, which is completely unfair. Many of them are often paid below

Minimum wage. Those things have to change. We have to get these people full benefits, full pay. We are dependent on them. Th we need them more than they need us. And if we treat them right, if we treat 'em like human beings, we just might see some meaningful recovery in this sluggish economy.