There is no end in sight to the worker shortage in the United States as the Labor Department reported on March 9, 2022, that there are now 11.3 million US job vacancies posted. Furthermore, the “Great Resignation” is continuing as 4.3 million workers quit their jobs in the US during January in order to find positions with higher pay and better benefits. With a low unemployment rate of 3.8 percent and millions of US jobs to fill, employers have been offering higher pay to attract new workers and to keep existing employees. Thus, millions of Americans have been switching jobs and receiving higher income in the process, with pay raises averaging about 5.8 percent. During February 2022, the Leisure and Hospitality industry added 179,000 jobs in the US, while the Professional and Business Services sector hired 95,000 workers and the Healthcare and Social Assistance industry created 94,000 new jobs in America. An additional 60,000 workers were hired in the Construction industry during February, plus there were 48,000 US jobs filled in Transportation, 37,000 in Retail Trade, 36,000 in Manufacturing, and 35,000 in Financial Services. The current data indicates that the US job market continues to be very strong in the first months of 2022. To read more, click here!

On February 4, 2022, the US Department of Labor reported that an additional 467,000 people were working in America during January. This was a pleasant surprise for economists, who were anticipating 150,000 US jobs to be added at the start of the year. During the first 12 months that President Biden has been in office, a record 6.6 million US jobs have been produced – more than any other American President during their first year in The White House. Despite this impressive US job creation, workers are still needed for 10.9 million jobs in America that are currently vacant. The Labor Department had further good news to announce, stating that there were actually 700,000 more US jobs generated between November and December than originally reported. To read more, click here!

The Pew Research Center published a report on January 27, 2022, that examines the population of Black immigrants living in the United States. The report says that there are 4.6 million Black immigrants living in the USA. The research further reveals that immigrants account for 10% of Blacks living in America and the children of immigrants make up an additional 10% of the Black population in the United States. Around 58% of Black immigrants living in the US arrived since 2000, with 27% arriving in 2000-2009 and 31% arriving in 2010-2019. The Pew Research Center report also says that 88% of Black immigrants living in the USA came from Africa or from The Caribbean. From 2000 to 2019, the data shows that Black immigrants from Africa living in America soared 246% from approximately 600,000 in 2000 to 2 million in 2019. Nonetheless, immigrants born in The Caribbean account for 46% of all Black immigrants in the US, while immigrants from Africa make up 42% of Black immigrants living in the United States. According to the research, the top 10 countries of origin for Black immigrants living in the US as of 2019 are as follows: #1 Jamaica (760,000); #2 Haiti (700,000); #3 Nigeria (390,000); #4 Ethiopia (260,000); #5 Dominican Republic (210,000); #6 Ghana (190,000); #7 Trinidad & Tobago (170,000); #8 Kenya (130,000); #9 Guyana (120,000); and #10 Somalia (110,000). In terms of where Black immigrants are living in the USA, 42% reside in the South; 36% live in the Northeast; 11% dwell in the Midwest; and 10% are living in the West. The largest number of Black immigrants live in New York City (1.1 million); 490,000 reside in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach area of Florida; 260,000 dwell in and around Washington, DC; and 190,000 make their homes in the Atlanta, Georgia, area. To read the full report, click here!

On January 11, 2022, US News & World Report released its ranking of the 100 best jobs in America for 2022. These top occupations were selected based on certain criteria, such as their median salary, rate of unemployment, US job growth forecast for a 10-year period, percentage of job growth over 10 years, prospects for future US employment, level of stress, and work-life balance. According to this ranking, the best job in America for 2022 is an Information Security Analyst, which has a median yearly salary of $103,590, a low 1.2% unemployment rate among professionals in this field and has 47,100 projected US jobs. Nurse Practitioner is #2 on the list, paying a median salary of $111,680 per year, having an unemployment rate of just 1.2% and 114,900 jobs in the USA forecast. Third place went to Physician Assistant, which has 40,100 US jobs projected, an unemployment rate of 1.4% and a median annual salary of $115,390. The #4 top occupation for this year is Medical and Health Services Manager, which has a median salary of $104,280 per year, 2.2% unemployment rate and 139,600 US jobs forecast. Ranked #5 was Software Developer, which has a 3% unemployment rate, a median annual salary of $110,140 and has an incredible 409,500 US jobs projected. Rounding out the Top 10 are #6 Data Scientist ($98,230), #7 Financial Manager ($134,180), #8 Statistician ($92,270), #9 Lawyer ($71,500) and #10 Speech-Language Pathologist ($80,480). To view the full list of 100 best jobs in America and their salaries , click here!

The United States ended 2021 by creating an additional 199,000 jobs in the USA, which helped to lower the unemployment rate to a very low 3.9 percent, the Department of Labor reported on January 7, 2022. In fact, 2021 ended up being a very good year for people working in America, with US employment rising 4.5 percent – the biggest increase since 1978. The Conference Board estimates that the American economy will conclude 2021 with a healthy 7 percent rate of growth for the year. Strong economic growth at the end of the year was driven by companies buying equipment and consumer spending. Furthermore, people working in the USA were earning an average of 4.7 percent more in December 2021 than they were 12 months prior. This steep rise in worker wages indicates that American employers are competing robustly to fill US job openings. To read more, click here!

On November 5, 2021, the Department of Labor reported that 531,000 US jobs were created during October, as the American economy continues its expansion. The impressive increase of jobs in the USA beat the expectations of economists and follows the 312,000 US jobs that were produced in September. The Labor Department also reported that the national unemployment rate sank even further to just 4.6 percent. Among all of the new jobs in America were 100,000 positions filled in the business and professional services sector; 60,000 manufacturing jobs; and 54,000 workers hired in the transportation and warehousing sector. The ongoing worker shortage in the United States is resulting in higher wages for people working in America, as employers try to attract and retain employees. President Joe Biden declared, in response to the US jobs report, that “America’s getting back to work” and further stated that the economy is benefiting more people and is “on the right track.” To read more, click here!

Wages earned by people working in America skyrocketed to the highest level in two decades during the July-September 2021 time period. Companies throughout the United States are being forced to pay higher wages in order to attract and keep workers. Workers employed in hotels, bars and restaurants enjoyed an average increase of 8.1% during the third quarter of 2021 compared with the same time period in 2020. People working in the US retail sector received an average of 5.1% higher pay compared with 12 months earlier. For the first time in about 20 years, workers have an advantage over employers when it comes to negotiating higher pay and other benefits. This has led many workers to quit their jobs in the USA, because they can earn higher wages by switching jobs due to the widespread labor shortage. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta reported that Americans who quit their jobs in the US to work for a different employer increased their income around 5.4 percent compared with one year prior. Many economists are predicting that worker wages in the USA will continue to rise for the foreseeable future. To read more,click here!

There are more US job vacancies than there are available workers to fill them all, so increasing immigration to the United States is the obvious solution to America’s ongoing labor shortage. Employers nationwide are struggling to fill approximately 10 million jobs in the USA that are currently open in various business sectors. In general, the number of US job postings has increased 41 percent, but in certain industries the demand for new workers is much higher. For example, US job advertisements for construction workers have risen 77 percent and postings for transportation and warehousing jobs in the USA have grown by 68 percent. There is also a shortage of workers for healthcare and technology jobs in the America, but immigrants could help to fill many of these open positions. Both highly-skilled and low-skilled workers are needed. Consequently, immigrants can find excellent US employment opportunities, while also giving a big boost to the US economy. To read more, click here!

The US State Department has published its August 2021 Visa Bulletin which reveals how many people born in each eligible country were randomly selected as winners of this year’s DV-2022 Green Card Lottery. According to the Visa Bulletin, there were 7,336,302 main applicants who participated in the DV-2022 Green Card Lottery (a total of 13,191,296 when main applicants and their family members are included), with around 119,021 winners selected from six geographic regions. The 119,021 winners who were randomly selected in this year’s DV-Lottery, along with their families, will now have the opportunity to apply for the 55,000 Diversity Visas and US Permanent Resident Green Cards authorized to be issued through the Diversity Visa program. The top 10 eligible countries with the most DV-2022 winners are: Egypt (6,005), Algeria (6,001), Russia (6,001), Sudan (6,001), Uzbekistan (6,001), Iran (5,739), Ukraine (4,949), Morocco (4,138), Nepal (3,802) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (3,347). Some of the other eligible countries that had many DV-Lottery winners this year include: Afghanistan (3,410), Ghana (3,145), Ethiopia (2,988), Kenya (2,882), Albania (2,756), Cameroon (2,656), Turkey (2,526), Tajikistan (2,122), Armenia (2,066), Kyrgyzstan (1,993), Kazakhstan (1,978), Belarus (1,808), Venezuela (1,800), Georgia (1,604), Liberia (1,417), Yemen (1,561), Iraq (1,512), Togo (1,119), Cambodia (1,094) and Australia (1,031). Examples of additional eligible countries that had a substantial number of DV-2022 winners include: Rwanda (983), Cuba (975), Fiji (950), Saudi Arabia (944), Azerbaijan (919), Jordan (917), Angola (855), Sri Lanka (838), Moldova (798), Turkmenistan (745), Benin (735), Uganda (722), Cote D’Ivoire/Ivory Coast (597), Taiwan (574), Myanmar/Burma (561), Germany (526), and South Africa (497). The next step for the DV-2022 Green Card Lottery winners is to file the online DS-260 Immigrant Visa Electronic Application with the US State Department’s Kentucky Consular Center (KCC), so that the Consular Interview can be scheduled. The DV-2022 winners and their family members who complete the consular process successfully will be granted a Diversity Immigrant Visa and US Permanent Resident Green Card to live, study and work in the USA long-term. To read more about this year’s DV-2022 winners (see Section G Diversity Visa Lottery Results), click here!

A surge in the construction of new homes and people making home improvements across America has resulted in a severe shortage of construction workers in the United States. It is predicted that workers will be needed to fill 430,000 construction jobs in the USA this year and that an additional one million US jobs in the the construction industry will need to be filled during the next two year to meet the soaring demand. The shortage of construction workers in the United States does not seem to be associated with the pay, because construction workers tend to earn high wages. Rather, the US population is aging and thousands of construction workers are retiring, yet, not enough young people are training for construction jobs in the United States to replace the retiring workers and to fill new US jobs that are being created in the construction industry. To read more, click here!