Big-event weddings are being squeezed already in the first ten months of the Trump administration.
The problem is that immigration authorities have changed rules so that fewer H-2B visas are available. Those visas allow foreign workers in lower skilled jobs to work in the U.S.
Among the ten leading H-2B jobs, two are tied to big-event weddings: hotel maids and waiter/waitresses.
Who are employers for these jobs? Catering services and resort hotels.
An article in yesterday’s Bangor Daily News discusses the impact of these visa shortages.
Quoting this article:
“We are concerned about the number of workers. The number of jobs available now and the number of people don’t match up,” said Diane Johanson, director of government affairs at the Maine Tourism Association. One in six Maine jobs is in tourism, some 106,000 in 2016 alone.
About 10 percent of the 77,000 employees in restaurant and lodging in the state are visa workers, according to the Maine Innkeepers and Restaurant Associations.
…
“We already have commitments for weddings every weekend for next fall,” he said. “We can’t stop work on Labor Day. We need the visa situation straightened out.”
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