GoKawiilStudy: H-2B visa cap cuts business growth without boosting jobs for Americans
Economists Michael A. Clemens and Ethan G. Lewis used the random letter-based processing of H-2B seasonal worker visa petitions by the Department of Labor to measure the impact of denying low-skill foreign labor to U.S. employers. They found that firms unlucky enough to be shut out of visas due to the annual 66,000-visa cap did not hire more American workers to fill the gap; instead, these businesses simply shrank in size.