My new long paper explains the H-2B visa—one of the most regulatory complex visa programs in America and how to improve it. Every year including 2020 and 2021, the #H2B visa cap (last updated in 1990) is filled, leaving thousands of jobs unfilled cato.org/publications/p…
Employers must undertake costly and lengthy recruitment efforts and offer inflated wages, but they almost never find U.S. workers to fill the positions. The program has helped greatly reduce illegal immigration from Mexico. Here are some major findings. 
H2B mandated wages have risen at twice the rate of wages overall and DOL continues to certify as unfilled by U.S. workers and ever greater number of jobs each year
The H-2B and H-2A programs function as important alternatives to illegal immigration from Mexico, causing apprehensions to decline as visas are increased. Even when workers don’t get visas, the fact that they could in the future acts as an incentive to wait
For the top industry-job combinations, H2B jobs advertised at the inflated prevailing wage with additional benefits are almost always unfilled. Employers basically only use the H2B program when they are certain that they have exhausted the US market.
H-2B workers create better, higher paying jobs for Americans. As H-2B jobs grew in landscaping, the industry hired (or promoted) more supervisors who are almost entirely U.S. workers. The H-2B cap limits job growth.
The biggest problem facing the program is that while Congress has authorized the administration to double the cap, the last administration refused to do so, causing many jobs to go unfilled. Congress or this administration should act to increase the cap (or end it)
Here is the "simple" #H2B process in one chart. More than 175 complex rules. Many pitfalls. It's very easy for employers to make errors in this process. Then these mistakes became fodder for critics of the program who urge more complexity!
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