Proof in numbers Before an employer can receive authorization to get temporary workers, he or she must demonstrate proof that the local job
market isn't meeting the company's needs. That's not as easy as it sounds, according to Bob Wingfield, founder of Amigos Labor Solutions Inc., a Dallas-based agency
that processes H-2B workers for Green Industry businesses nationwide. As part of the H-2B application process, employers file
a form with the State Workforce Agency (SWA). To follow the process, employers must run a local ad for three days advertising
the job openings. At the same time, the SWA searches its local databases for names and contact information of people seeking
jobs, which it passes on to the employer, who must contact the candidates and follow up with interview requests. The process can last at least two weeks, Wingfield says, and rarely yields good results. "This year we ran 300 newspaper ads looking for 4,500 employees," he says. "Less than 200 names came to employers from the
different states, and less than 100 people were hired from those names. This amounted to more than $350,000 worth of advertising."
This, Wingfield says, is often proof enough for the employers he represents that local Americans won't take these jobs. "In this business, you have to be efficient. And you've got to have the workers," Joe Drake says. "These [H-2B] workers are
reliable, they're hard working, and they are taking jobs that Americans don't want to do."
|
