Workforce shortage in the U.S., a business opportunity for Latino entrepreneurs?

Internationalizing your business is not only about selling and entering a different market, it is also about identifying business opportunities to generate employment. 

‍A phenomenon is occurring in the United States that can benefit Latin American entrepreneurs who want to do business in this country. This will depend on the entrepreneurial approach of those who intend to do business in this country, that is, to see the opportunity of internationalization, not only as an experience of development and expansion, but also as a source of employment generation. 

There is a labor shortage in the northern giant. Experts say that it is not only due to the pandemic, which, among other things, accelerated this phenomenon, but that this was already a situation that had been a constant in the U.S. economy. 

The consequences of the labor shortage range from problems in the supply chain, due to the lack of workers in logistics chains, which inevitably leads to a slowdown in GDP, to some employers increasing wages to hire and retain employees. 

‍Therefore, what do Latino migrants have to do with this scenario? Why are the 62 million Latinos not supplying the demand of the American industry? Does it have something to do with the immigration policies of the country? Is it a business opportunity? Is it possible to bring qualified personnel from Latin American companies to the USA? 

A study published by the Baker Institute of Rice University, recognizes that the problem that millions of Latinos have to access the U.S. industry can be analyzed from two scenarios: the first one considers the decrease of visas issued between 2020 and 2021 and the second one evaluates the economic impact of having around 2 million less working age immigrants living in the United States during the same period of time.

This means that the labor shortage is primarily due to an aging workforce, declining national fertility rates and, more recently, falling immigration rates. This has led to fewer people participating in the national labor force, the report notes.

‍This means, the study says, that there are more job openings in the United States than there are people willing to work. In fact, there were 11.3 million job openings in February of this year and to make matters worse, 4.3 million people left their jobs. 

Let's look at the official figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

Job openings and number of unemployed workers, 2015-2022.

How can this benefit Latin American entrepreneurs? 

Clearly an effective solution to the labor shortage is to attract more workers, either domestic or foreign, to the U.S. labor market, because without workers, companies cannot produce the amount of goods and services demanded by the market. 

‍Did you know that 80% of the GDP in the USA is generated by the service sector? We wrote a blog on this topic: 80% of the GDP in the USA is due to services, which ones generate the most?

According to the report, the sectors most affected by this phenomenon are accommodation and food services, construction, wholesale trade, state and municipal education, among others.

 However, to a large extent, the sectors of the economy that depend mostly on Latin American immigrants are agriculture, food services, health care, transportation and construction, that is, entrepreneurs belonging to these sectors can explore the possibility not only to do business in the USA and generate employment, but to make a Business Plan, in order to transfer an executive or specialized personnel to a company or branch in the USA. 

In Prodezk we structure the Business Plan, oriented to your company's projection in the consolidation of business in the United States, necessary for the application of Investor Visa (E-2) or Executive Transfer Visa (L-1).