Welcome to the April 15 issue of Mobility Minute, a newsletter published each Friday by Worldwide ERC® for the benefit of members and the global mobility and relocation industry as a whole. If you have a news tip or a suggestion for improving the newsletter, drop us a line.
What's happening?
Here’s a quick glimpse of what you’ll find in this week’s Mobility Minute:
Fewer International Students Have Enrolled in U.S. Universities
Women’s Pay and Participation Rates Hurt by Pandemic
10 Ways to Make Talent Mobility Work for Your Company
Tech Workers May Miss Out on Green Cards This Year
Fewer International Students Have Enrolled in U.S. Universities
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of international students enrolled in US colleges and universities decreased. However, the number of international students enrolled in Canadian institutions increased. According to a new study, Indian graduate students in science and engineering have been the most likely to select Canada over the United States because it is much simpler to work on a temporary visa and obtain permanent residency in Canada. The study’s findings suggest that American companies and universities may be less competitive in the future.
Get the facts:
According to a new study from the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP), international student enrollment at U.S. colleges fell 7.2 percent over the 2016-17 and 2019-20 academic years.
Simultaneously, between 2016-17 and 2019-20, international student enrollment at Canadian colleges and universities increased by 52 percent.
Why is this important?
This research indicates the growing attractiveness of Canadian schools due to improved friendly immigration rules in Canada, particularly those allowing international students to obtain temporary work permits and permanent residency.
The findings show that immigration policies significantly impact where talented people choose to live, study, and work. Canada has benefited from a decline in young Indian information technology professionals migrating to the United States. The more stringent U.S. immigration policy has limited Indian students’ options.
The pandemic has exacerbated persistent gender gaps in the labor market, with some experts asserting that the virus has significantly influenced women’s earning power. The underlying disparities worsened by the pandemic are those that federal pay discrimination legislation isn’t written to address.
According to a study of Bureau of Labor Statistics data conducted by the National Women’s Law Center, between the beginning of the pandemic (which the World Health Organization formally declared on March 11) and January 2021, over 2.3 million women left their jobs. The women’s labor participation rate fell to a 33-year low of 57%.
Get the facts:
Women’s labor force participation rates remained relatively constant from the 1990s until just before the pandemic.
According to the U.S. Census, there were 1.4 million more nonworking mothers with school-age children in January 2021 versus the same month in 2020.
A study released by the New York City Department of Education found that women who took time off to raise their children were paid less than when they worked full-time.
Why Is This Important?
When you leave the workforce, it impacts your overall earnings, and that’s always been one of the more significant issues and concerns for women. A woman who isn’t employed is unlikely to contribute to a retirement program such as a 401(k). She may lose her job-based health insurance. Her future Social Security payments will be limited since she won’t be making contributions. That’s going to have a significant impact on a lot of women. It will influence when they can retire.
The Port of Shanghai is the world’s busiest for container traffic. It moved 47 million 20-foot equivalent cargo units in 2021, four times the volume handled by the Port of Los Angeles. But the Covid outbreak has made port delays worse and forced the suspension of many passenger flights, sending air freight rates soaring and putting even more pressure on global supply chains. — CNN
U.S. and allied financial sanctions designed to punish Moscow have put a chokehold on the Russian economy, sparking an exodus by hundreds of multinational companies and pushing the government to the brink of its first default on foreign-currency debt since the Bolshevik Revolution. With U.S. and NATO officials warning that the fighting in Ukraine could continue for months or even years, a greater economic toll looms. — The Washington Post
Tax evasion and avoidance cause the loss of revenue that would otherwise have financed broadly popular and needed social spending and infrastructure investments. They also exacerbate inequality and perceptions of unfairness. The self-serving national policies of one country can affect others in damaging ways. If each sets its tax policy without regard for the adverse effects elsewhere, all countries join a race to the bottom. — IMF Blog
Canada’s red hot housing market is in overdrive as housing affordability sinks — a familiar story to neighboring Americans. According to the Canadian Real Estate Association, Canada's national average home price climbed to $816,720 CAN in February, hitting an all-time high according to the Canadian Real Estate Association and 50% higher than that of the median US home price when converted to USD. The 20.6% year-over-year growth is attributed to a home-buying frenzy — like that in the US — that was spurred on by record-low mortgage rates in 2020. — Business Insider
10 Ways to Make Talent Mobility Work for Your Company
In their efforts to retain their employees, many companies are becoming more and more open to “talent mobility” — or letting employees completely change positions or departments in their company. This can have many benefits, such as increased fulfillment and job satisfaction for employees, higher productivity rates, and lower turnover for companies.
In a recent article, Rolling Stone Culture Council members offered their tips for ensuring that incorporating talent mobility is a successful endeavor for all parties involved.
Why is this important?
Advice offered by the Culture Council on how to adopt a talent mobility strategy included learning your employees’ strengths and creating a mentorship program. To start, the council suggests that companies first clearly define what each job is responsible for so employees understand goals and expectations.
Companies must then plan a transition period where the employee is available to attend both the new and previous teams to ensure nothing falls through the cracks. Managers must maintain regular communication to ensure the cultural effect of the change is positive and that all team members are motivated. To ensure success, designate staff to manage the initiative and be sure to provide timely and exhaustive feedback to employees.
Tech Workers May Miss Out on Green Cards This Year
Tech giants are worried their employees will miss out on thousands of potential green cards this year as the U.S. continues to struggle with an immigration backlog. There are about 280,000 employment-based green cards available this year, but immigration officials are on track to waste about 100,000 of them, based on processing times in the first quarter.
Get the facts:
Green cards that are not granted by the end of the fiscal year in September do not carry over to the next year.
There were about 66,500 unused green cards last year.
Why is this important?
The pandemic contributed to processing delays, as did a sharp increase in employment-based visas available. The issue disproportionately affects people from India because of the caps on the number of green cards that can be granted per country.
In a tight labor market, industry leaders say they can’t afford to lose talented high-skilled workers frustrated with long delays in granting permanent legal status. Immigration officials have processed fewer than half of Google’s employee applications since October 2020, Kent Walker, president, global affairs & chief legal officer for Google, told Axios. The tech companies noted that immigration officials picked up the pace on processing green cards last year and said they are hopeful officials will build on that momentum.
Agencies Wasted 25 percent of Employment Green Cards in 2021. Read more on CATO at Liberty.
As Remote Work Becomes Permanent, Can Manhattan Adapt? Read more in the New York Times.
Remote raises $300M to manage payments and more for globally distributed workforces. Read more on Tech Crunch.
Why are leaders so reluctant to make ESG investments? Poor financial analysis and short-term thinking. Read more in the Harvard Business Review.
Microsoft spotlights neurodiversity in accessible hiring initiatives. Read more on HR Dive.
Greece lifts COVID restrictions for the summer tourism season. Read more on Reuters.
On Tap
Spring Virtual Conference, May 17-19, 2022. Our team is excited to bring sessions to the Worldwide ERC® Spring Virtual Conference, where we focus on bending and not breaking during these tough times. We asked what is keeping you up at night, and overwhelmingly you responded. Your concerns are our concerns. Join your colleagues and industry leaders to discuss, and solve these issues. Click here to register.
Webinar: Green Card Process for Nurses, Physical Therapists, and Med Techs, April 28, 2022. WR Immigration attorneys will illuminate a path to reversing this trend in this webinar. We will run through techniques that can be used to meet this shortage, showing the process for how HR/Global Mobility professionals can bring nurses, physical therapists, and med techs into their U.S. company from around the world via a Green Card. Click here to register.
Registration Open for 2022 CRP® exam; the deadline is April 29, 2022. The deadline to apply to sit for the CRP is April 29, 2022. This will be the ONLY opportunity to sit for the CRP exam this year. The Worldwide ERC Certified Relocation Professional (CRP) designation is the only credential dedicated to identifying professionals that demonstrate a broad understanding of managing employee mobility within the United States. Learn more on Worldwide ERC.
Worldwide ERC Member-Only LinkedIn Groups: Benchmark with the best in the industry with two new member-only LinkedIn groups, Worldwide ERC GMMG and Corporate/HR Benchmarking Member-Only Forum. These discussions are exclusively for corporate and government Worldwide ERC members who have no commercial interest in relocation. This is your private, member-only community to exchange questions, answers, and ideas with other corporate and government relocation professionals! Click here to join the Global Mobility Management Group or the Corporate/HR Benchmarking Member-Only Forum.
Worldwide ERC Member-Only Young Professionals Forum: Worldwide ERC and the YP (Young Professionals) Task Force has worked hard to foster a community of rising leaders ready to take our industry to new levels. This group provides a platform for you to network and benchmark on challenges, collaborate on innovations, or discuss topics impacting today’s mobility professionals. Click here to join the young professionals’ forum.
Worldwide ERC Member-Only Open Forum: This is a large public forum for open conversation, industry announcements, and sharing. Click here to join the open forum.
The Italian government may be introducing the solution to your wanderlust while allowing you to keep your current job. The Italian digital nomad visa is a visa that was voted into law on March 28 and will allow non-residents to work remotely in the country for an entire year.
The law aims to encourage remote workers who don’t reside in the European Union to spend a year living (and spending) in Italy. However, the law will not make it easier for certain remote workers to come and live the Italian dream.
What is a digital nomad visa: A digital nomad lives a nomadic lifestyle and uses technology to work remotely from outside their home country. A digital nomad visa is a document or program that gives someone the legal right to work remotely while residing away from their country of permanent residence.
There are dozens of digital nomad visas available around the world, but here are three of the most popular:
Costa Rica This Central American country’s temporary residency visa, also known as Rentista, offers a two-year remote work opportunity. Visa holders are required to have a monthly income of USD 2,500 or to make a $60,000 USD deposit at a local bank.
Republic of Georgia The Remotely From Georgia program enables digital nomads and their families to work within the former Soviet state for one year.
Mauritius, The Premium Travel Visa, offers one year of remote working abroad with the potential for renewal. Applicants need to prove a minimum monthly income of $1,500 USD.
