Additional 35,000 H-2B visas to be issued

On May 16, 2022, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Labor (DOL) issued a temporary rule authorizing the issuance of additional 35,000 H-2B visas for the second half of the Fiscal Year 2022 for positions with start dates after April 1, 2022, through September 30, 2022. These visas will supplement the previous supply of 33,000 H-2B visas for the second half of the current fiscal year, all of which have been claimed. The employment must be for a limited period of time, such as a one-time occurrence, or seasonal or intermittent need.

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Job Openings and Resignations Reached Record Highs

Job openings and the number of employees who quit reached new highs in March, as a lack of available labor continued to pressure the US employment market. The Labor Department reported a seasonally adjusted 11.5 million job openings in March, up from 11.3 million the previous month. In the same month, the number of people who quit their jobs reached 4.5 million, almost equal to the all-time high in November of last year. At the same time, employment growth dropped to 6.7 million hires in March from the previous month.

Why is this important?

Job openings continue to exceed the number of unemployed individuals searching for employment. According to the Labor Department, there were almost two job opportunities for every unemployed person in March. Since the start of last spring, more jobs have been created than unemployed people seeking employment.

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Global Economic Snapshot

• U.S. ports are preparing for an early peak season as they extend operating hours to handle more containers. Communication across the supply chain between ocean shipping, retailers, warehouses, and truckers has improved and vessel backlogs have subsided in some ports, though East Coast ports still grapple with full warehouses and limited labor in trucking and railroads — The Wall Street Journal
• California’s state senate voted to pass the nation’s most aggressive pay transparency measure Tuesday, moving forward a bill that would require many businesses to post salary ranges in job ads, as well as publicly report more data about how groups of employees are paid. While Colorado and Washington already have similar laws, California’s size and the advent of a national remote workforce are likely to have a profound impact on employers across the country. — Forbes
• Sales of new homes fell 16.6% in April—the lowest level in two years—to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 591,000. "Mortgage rates have quickly gone from being a massive tailwind to the housing market to a massive headwind," Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics, told Bloomberg. Pending home sales are down 3.9% marking six consecutive months of consecutive declines and are at the slowest pace in nearly a decade. The median sales price for a new home in April of this year was $450,600, a 19.6% increase from a year ago, the Commerce Department said.
  —CNET
• The surge in job creation competes with existing vacancies in the labor market. A survey of more than 2,300 senior managers found that 65% hope to add new permanent positions in the first half of the year. Another 33% are vying to fill vacancies, with over 10.8 million job openings across the U.S. currently.
  —Robert Half Talent Solutions
• A Survey of over 52,000 workers indicates the Great Resignation is set to continue as pressure on pay mounts. One in five say they are likely to switch to a new employer in the next 12 months. While an increase in pay is the main motivator for making a job change (71%), wanting a fulfilling job (69%) and wanting to truly be themselves at work (66%). Nearly half (47%) prioritized being able to choose where they work.
  —PWC

The Roundup

• 92% of HR leaders plan on using artificial intelligence (AI) to acquire talent including areas such as management processes, onboarding new employees, and payroll processing. —VentureBeat

• The EEOC is Watching HR implementation of AI Too In addition to helping with talent acquisition and management processes, a notable 95% of HR leaders are using AI for DEI efforts. However, none of the responses broke 50% — revealing a big runway for improvement. — JD Supra

• Courts Strike Down California Diversity Statutes in two recent rulings that were intended to foster diversity at California-based public companies. —JD Supra

• Big-city population declines deepened across the U.S. according to census figures released Thursday. As the pandemic continued sending Americans in search of more space and a different lifestyle Americans left big and mid-sized cities and took their new remote jobs with them. Collectively, in the nine cities with more than one million people, the population fell by 1.7%. New York, the nation’s largest city, lost 3.5% of its residents.

  —-Wall Street Journal

• Employers are touting enhanced workspaces, office picnics, free food, daycare, concerts and parties to lure workers back to the office. Ultimately the instinct for human connection with their peers may be the incentive that makes the difference. —Human Resource Executive
• The mandatory fabricated fun of staff birthdays and team laser tag outings does not seem to be on the menu of things workers have been missing. —BBC

On Tap

• Job Posting: Vice President, Client Development with NEI Global Relocation 
• Job Posting: Global Immigration Paralegal with Dentons Cohen & Grigsby
• Job Posting: Sr. Immigration Specialist with onsemi
• Job Posting: Marketing Director with Home Services Relocation 

The Breakroom

The Digital Nomad trend shows signs of transitioning from a lifestyle of eccentric young high-tech vagabonds to a broader array of remote workers, young and old, who are looking to invest years of their professional lives in working from exotic locations. While only 10% of countries in the world have recently offered simple and appealing packages to attract these workers. But in the wake of the pandemic and its opening of the way for remote work, many countries are now positioning themselves to attract these professionals by lowering hurdles in visas, taxes, and requirements while investing heavily in digital infrastructure.
Human Resources Director has released a list of best destinations for digital nomad workers in 2022 and included specifics that every worker with wanderlust will want to consider before approaching their employers.
All countries on the HRD list require applicants to meet specific criteria, often including a minimum monthly income, health insurance, and satisfactory background checks. The list includes factors such as broadband speed and the cost of living that must be ranked alongside aesthetics.
Coming in at #1 was The Caribbean sister islands of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua offers nomads $0 in local taxes, and fees as low as $1,5000 for a 2-year visa. A simple online application process with approval in 5 business days. The Caribbean nation requires a relatively low minimum salary of $50k USD whether self-employed or working for a company. Antigua and Barbuda also boasts a regular position at the top of the Caribbean’s safest destination list
A full list of 2022 winners with all of the requirements can be found on HRD