The US is expected to import $43 billion worth of fresh and processed fruits and vegetables in FY22, up from $39 billion in FY21. Some $16 billion of fresh fruit was imported in FY21, accounting for 40 percent of fruit and vegetable imports by value, followed by $10 billion or 25 percent fresh vegetables and $6 billion each for processed fruits and vegetables.
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The H-2A program allows US employers who anticipate labor shortages to be certified by the US Department of Labor (DOL) to employ guest workers (1) if they try and fail to recruit US workers and (2) if the employment of H-2A workers does not adversely affect US workers. The recruitment test involves farmers posting their jobs and failing to attract US workers, and the adverse effect test requires employers to pay an Adverse Effect Wage Rate that is typically higher than federal, state, and local minimum wages.
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The ILO estimated that 25 million people were in forced labor exploitation and forced marriage in 2016; 16 million were in forced labor, five million were in forced marriage or sex work, and four million were in state-imposed forced labor, as with prison labor.
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How well do immigrants and their children integrate into the US economy and society? During the third wave of immigration before WWI, when a million immigrants a year arrived in the US from southern and eastern Europe, there were fears that Italians, Jews, Poles and others would not become Americans. The arrival of rural Mexicans and Central Americans raises similar fears today.
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The world’s population is expected to reach eight billion on November 15, 2022. The UN projected that there will be 8.5 billion people in 2030 and 9.7 billion in 2050, reflecting annual population increases of almost 80 million from 135 million births and 55 million deaths a year.
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The US has more immigrants than any other country, 47 million in 2022, making immigrants almost 15 percent of US residents. Unlike other countries with higher shares of immigrants such as Australia and Canada, almost a quarter of the immigrants in the US are unauthorized.
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DOL’s National Agricultural Workers Survey interviewed 3,582 California non-H-2A crop workers over four years, 2015-19, almost 900 a year. California crop workers are aging, settling in one place with one farm employer, and are half unauthorized. Their personal incomes averaged $2,000 a month from farm earnings of about $600 a week for 35 to 40 weeks a year. Most California crop workers want to continue to do farm work as long as they can.
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World wealth was estimated to be $1,500 trillion in 2020, including a third in financial assets such as stocks and bonds held by financial corporations, a third held by households, governments, and nonfinancial businesses, and a third in nonfinancial assets such as machinery, real estate, and intellectual property.
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Canada is the great immigration exception among industrial countries. The government aims to increase the population of 38 million by one percent each year with immigrants, has a generous social welfare system, and enjoys widespread public support for its immigration and integration policies. Canadian exceptionalism is due in part to a flexible point system that gives priority to young and well-educated foreigners who know English or French and who studied or worked in Canada.
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The cruise industry depends on the migration of workers and guests. Some 225,000 crew from many nations provided services to 30 million cruise passengers in 2019 on 270 ships. Cruise ships accommodate 100 to 6,000 passengers each, and most have one crew member for every two to three passengers.
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