Regulated industries such as education, engineering and healthcare are facing significant labor shortages yet state barriers to licensure are preventing many new Americans from filling these positions because their education and relevant work experience occurred outside the U.S.
At a recent online seminar by the Garden State Immigration Policy Institute – a joint project of NJBIA and the New Jersey Business Immigration Coalition – speakers spoke of the need to combat “brain waste” with legislative reforms that help internationally trained professionals work in their area of expertise, ease workforce shortages, and boost New Jersey’s economy.
“One way that we have been seeing a lot of states take initiative in this space is looking at how to reduce barriers for licensing, said Asma Easa, Senior Manager for State and Local Initiatives at the American Immigration Council.
“We've seen a big rise in this type of legislation over the past three to six years, especially amongst the healthcare fields, particularly internationally trained medical graduates and physicians,” Easa said.
“We view this kind of legislation as a win for states ... it supports state and local employers in their ability to hire highly scape highly skilled professionals, it also reduces brain waste in the state, and it opens up the candidate pool for high in demand jobs, especially in areas that we see that require licensing already.”
The council’s research shows that immigrants already have an outsized role in New Jersey’s economy, Easa said.
"In New Jersey, based on the year 2023, we found that 24.2% of the population are immigrants in the State of New Jersey, and they make up 30.1% of the labor force,” Easa said. “There are over 2 million immigrant residents in the state contributing nearly $40 billion to tax contributions. And they hold nearly $95 billion in spending power.”
Go here to view the video of the seminar, “Opening Doors to New Americans,”sponsored by the Genova Burns law firm. Other speakers included:
- Katherine Gebremehin, Director of State and Local Initiatives at World Education Services (WES), a non-profit that provides credential evaluations for individuals with education obtained outside the U.S.
- Anthony Cherwinski, Global Talent Administrator, at the Colorado Department of Labor & Employment
- Sebastian Sanchez, Deputy Secretary, at the California Department of Labor & Workforce Development
- Steve Tobocman, Executive Director of Global Detroit, a regional economic and community development organization advancing immigrant-inclusive strategies.
