1、The Impact of the H-2BVisa Program on theEmployment and Wagesof U.S.WorkersSeptember 9,2025Stephen Bronars1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This study examines the impact of an increase in the hiring of seasonal foreign guest workers through the H-2B visa program on the employment and wages of domestic workers in
2、 the U.S.The estimates of the programs impact in this study improve on estimates in previous studies in several ways.First,by making use of relatively large recent changes in the number of H-2B visa workers entering the U.S.per year,the programs impact is estimated from changes in labor market outco
3、mes before and after a substantial policy change.Second,this study examines the local effects of the H-2B program rather than more aggregated geographic areas.The study presents evidence that the H-2B program allows employers to fill gaps in the supply of seasonal workers that are unlikely to be fil
4、led by domestic workers.This not only allows businesses to continue operation but also benefits other workers employed in these businesses,and the customers who rely on the products or services provided by them.This empirical evidence is bolstered by survey evidence that was collected for this study
5、.While previous studies have attempted to estimate either the state-wide or nationwide impact of the H-2B program,our empirical analyses focus on the local impact of the program in the areas that rely most on H-2B workers.Because the H-2B program is small relative to the overall size of the U.S.work
6、force,and seasonal labor shortages mitigated by the hiring of H-2B workers tend to be localized in nature,estimates based on larger geographical areas could understate the true impact of the program because they include areas that have little,if any,demand for seasonal guest workers.In general,there