HUMAN CAPITAL Career Trends

STEM Immigration

One of the significant concerns of CEOs and Entrepreneurs is the skilled labor shortage. Four trends may worsen that scenario:

Global ageism, with projections of at least 300 million more people age 65 and older in 2030 than there were in 2014, according to McKinsey & Co. most recent report. There is a significant impact on organizational overall institutional knowledge, and the urgent need to eliminate age discrimination employment. It is a fact that many people will stay employed into their late 60s and 70s.

Fast-advancing technology, continued adoption of automation, robotics, and artificial intelligence to databased decisionmaking. We will also observe a serious gap in laws to protect against cybersecurity attacks.

Need to continue to foster and develop nation’s entrepreneurs, which are responsible for at least 65% of workforce employment.

Address urgently infrastructure and energy needs, and rapidly rising health care costs.

Forecasts that China’s nominal gross domestic product will overtake that of the U.S. in 2033 and impacts it may generates in our businesses.

There are several positions the world needs, and we are likely to compete for them in a global mobile workforce.

Take, for example, the Travel Nurses that work in various estates, with compensation that is as double as local nurses receive. Now imagine a total and complete mobile workforce and the impacts it may bring into our economies.

Power plant engineers: China’s ongoing decarbonization efforts, the U.K. government pledged energy green by 2035, the U.S. efforts in the same direction, revitalizing the automotive industries in Michigan, to name a few big players. These renewable sources work much differently than fossil fuels, so manufacturing and even transport will need to be redesigned. Therefore, the role of mechanical and automotive engineers and power plant engineers is as important as ever, and nations will race against each other to produce environmentally friendly energy.

Aerospace and aeronautical engineers: Aerospace and aeronautical engineers are invaluable in contemporary society. Their expert knowledge ensures the correct placement of satellites, safe passage of holiday-goers, and exploration into outer space.

Healthcare: The health care jobs are growing most quickly, from personal care aides, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants, physiotherapists, dental surgeons.

To address future shortages, we need a robust immigration policy that not only favors skilled and talented labor but also retains them in our country in the long run.

We need, for example, to capacitate our adjudicating officers to do their jobs in a timely manner, we need additional officers, and we need them urgently.

It is damaging to our nation to have a case waiting to be adjudicated for over 600 days and work authorizations taking over 15 months.

If we are to compete globally, first and foremost, we need to do our homework and give talented and skilled immigrants the priority they deserve.

For employers who need to hire foreign national talents for STEM or other hard-to-fill positions, an important immigration deadline is around the corner. The electronic H-1B lottery application window starts on March 1.

While the employment-based first preference visas are eligible for premium processing, EB-1(A) extraordinary ability, EB-1(B) outstanding researcher, and EB-1(C) multinational manager, we need to extend premium processing at least to Employment-based second preference exceptional ability with national interest waiver(EB-2 NIW), members of professions with Advanced Degrees or Exceptional Ability, and in time to some EB-3 Skilled Workers.

Justifiable reasons are unlikely to change anytime soon: a declining birth rate in the American society, as parents delay babies to mid-30s, lower-skilled immigration levels to the U.S., higher mortality rates due to Covid pandemic, an aging population.

Canada, Japan, and Germany have already addressed these problems: while Canada significantly boosted its immigration population, projecting over 400k projected immigrants in 2022. I pledge to keep America competitive. The United States will need to make investments in our workforce training and in all levels of education to meet the needs of our society.

Leonardo Freitas

CEO

Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Hayman-Woodward, Mr. Leonardo Freitas explains recent immigration trends and why 2022 may be the year for qualified professionals to relocate to the United States.

Mr. Freitas is our columnist on entrepreneurship, high-skilled workforce, global mobility, and related immigration issues.

Leonardo Freitas

CEO