Since the H-2B program was enacted in 1990, it bore a cap of 66,000 workers. Employers question why the number has never been adjusted in more than 15 years to reflect current economic conditions or meet the needs of growing service industries.
The cap amount did not come into question until just before it was first hit in 2004. The limits and requirements of the H-2B program resulted in marginal visa usage – for example, in 1995, only 2,398 visas were issued. But the program picked up popularity in the last five to seven years.
According to Chuck Twist, by clinging to the current cap the government admits the process is flawed.
“We have to prove to the Department of Labor we can’t get American workers through expensive advertisements, but then they only give us 66,000 workers,” says the coowner, TNT Lawn & Landscaping and president H.O.L.A. Labor Consultants, Stillwater, Okla. “That’s like saying, ‘We agree you can’t find American workers but we’re going to put a cap on the program anyway.’ If workers are not available and we can prove we need them, there shouldn’t be a cap.”
Bob Wingfield, owner, Amigos, Dallas, Texas, agrees.
“I don’t understand why the cap is there,” he says, pointing to an example to show how small the H-2B program really is. “There are 19,431 cities in the United States. If you take 66,000 H-2B visas and divide that by the number of cities, that’s only 3.4 workers per city. When you consider that there are 150 million people in the American workforce, and you take 66,000 divided by that, you have to move four decimal points (.00044) before it has any affect on American workers.”
Some lawmakers have discussed eliminating or raising the cap, points out Libby Whitley, president, MAS (Mid-Atlantic Solutions), Lovingston, Va. For instance, Congressman Henry Hyde (R – Ill.) sent a letter to House members discussing elimination of the cap, she says, but a dawdling government coupled with Hyde’s imminent retirement means the idea might expire with him.