Mexico Migration

WASHINGTON, DC — The United States Chamber of Commerce called on President Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox to quickly return to migration discussions started last year but put on hold in the wake of September 11.

"Even with the recent slowdown in the economy, the country is looking at demographic shortages in the next 10 to 20 years that will strain our workforce," said Theresa Cardinal Brown, U.S. Chamber director of immigration policy. "We risk an economic train wreck unless we find ways to address this deficiency."

The Chamber noted, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, by 2010 the U.S. workforce will number 158 million, but there will be almost 168 million jobs to fill. And the median age of the workforce will be over 40 years old.

The Chamber supports the creation of some form of earned legalization for undocumented workers in addition to expansion of legal temporary and permanent worker visas when U.S. workers are not available.

"In addition to needing new workers in the future, we must also address the issue of undocumented employees in our workforce now," continued Brown. "Even employers who follow the law find they have undocumented workers, and these are workers they need."

The Chamber is on the steering committee of the Essential Worker Immigration Coalition, which continues to urge the administration to revisit talks with Mexico on migration and work with the 108th Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business federation representing more than three million businesses and organizations of every size, sector and region.

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