Page "Labor shortage" Paragraph 2

Techniques for measuring the existence and level of shortages in the labor force of a nation's economy are complex and controversial.

Sometimes alleged labor shortages are used by employers to justify the importing of temporary foreign labor ( in the U. S., this would mean using the H-1 or L-1 Visa Program to import each foreign worker ).

Mainstream organized labor groups and other critics of such practices argue that the laws of supply and demand ought to correct such shortages as more citizens enter a field when wages go up due to the shortage.

The more cynical critics charge that companies seeking foreign labor are in fact hypocritically lobbying the government to allow them to evade the free market rules that most such employers claim to cherish, simply so that they may hire cheaper and / or more docile employees.