Mark Berzins has a devil of a time finding enough kitchen staff for his 17 bars and restaurants in the Denver area.
The metropolis has an unemployment rate rate slightly below the national average and a highly educated populace that shies away from manual labor.
While some employers might be able to lure foreign workers through the H1-B visa program, that isn’t an option for cooks and dishwashers.
So instead, Berzins is tapping into a city program to hire asylum seekers — primarily from South and Central America — who have obtained federal work permits. So far, he’s given jobs to about a dozen people at kitchens where the managers speak Spanish.
“It’s really gotten so bad that almost all of these kitchens around Denver are chronically understaffed,” he said. “They try to make college a priority for graduates of Denver public schools.
When that happens, those are not your cooks of the future.”
Denver’s program and similar efforts in places ranging from New York to North Dakota seek to bridge the gap between companies that need workers and migrants who are desperate for paying jobs.
Proponents pitch the programs as good for businesses that are struggling to hire, a lifeline for hundreds of thousands of migrants who have sought a new life in the US since 2022 and a relief to city and states that busted budgets to feed and shelter them.
In short, the goal is to boost local economies and help lower government spending.
Berzins, a self-described “radical centrist” who has made campaign donations to both Democrats and Republicans, tries to stay out of the politics of immigration, one of the top issues for swing-state voters in this year’s presidential election.
He’s aware of concerns that a wave of newcomers will displace native-born workers, but says he can’t find anyone to fill his kitchen jobs.
He knows some people see the migrants as a burden, particularly in so-called sanctuary cities where they were bused, but points out that allowing them to work will reduce dependence on handouts.
Source : https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/nri/work/from-new-york-to-denver-us-cities-are-seeking-migrants-for-jobs/articleshow/112437776.cms
