Labor Shortage in west Texas Affecting Business Owners

Remember the DeSantis law on banning all immigrants in the Florida state? Well, now it seems to have reach the west part of Texas.

The US Today article states how Katherine Parker, server at a busy Spicewood Bar and Restaurant, is struggling to keep the business working due to the labor shortage.

Katherine Parker not only serves and busses at the restaurant, but she also owns it along with a hotel and a cattle ranch.

"I am always in there working, I want to know what's going on in my business," she said. "Plus, there's the labor shortage going on."

The nationwide labor shortage is affecting many, if not all, work areas around the world. It has become very difficult to hire individuals for agriculture, manufacturing, to hospitality and tourism.

Parker's restaurant is in Brewster County between the Texas-Mexico border; there is always thousands and thousands of migrants cross over to the U.S. legally and illegally. She pays very well for her job positions ranging from $14-$20. Yet she still asks herself one main question.

Why is it so hard to find people to do this job?

According to the US Today article, it states that the United States has approximately 3.8 million job vacancies a month. The country has admitted 1.8million fewer legal immigrants.

"We used to fill 95% of the vacancies within a month; we now fill 55% of the vacancies," said Orazem, professor of economics at Iowa State University.

This empty gap can't stay un-vacant, there must be a way to fill the whole.

"Either older people have to move back into the labor force, or you have to make up for the loss with immigration; we're not going to change fertility behavior. The biggest supply chain restriction we have in the United States is labor supply. Immigration is the only way," he added.

For the past decade, owners like Katherine Parker, have relied mainly on either the Texas-Mexico Border being a source for Hispanics to cross over the U.S. to find jobs, or the H-2A agricultural work visa program to bring workers from Mexico.

According to the analysis of Labor Department data, southern states like Texas need more workers than any other region in the U.S.

Many Hispanics/Latinos are already being lined up in the Mexican border with hopes of working in the U.S. They are dreaming of being led into the United States to work and earn money.

Hispanics around the world are looking for one thing, and one thing only; to provide for their families which means having a job. Hispanics are hard workers, never complain, earn very little money, yet they still dream of having jobs in the U.S.

Latinos are the only way to keep this world going.