Pass H.R. 2315

Something strange is happening in the labor market, and it is worth your attention. Layoffs sit near record lows — Americans who have jobs are keeping them. But hiring for first jobs has nearly stopped. New entrants to the workforce climbed to 13.3% of all unemployed Americans, a 37-year high, and entry-level job postings are down 29 percentage points since January 2024. Only 12% of this year’s graduating seniors had an offer before they walked across the stage.

Into that narrow, crowded doorway, federal policy inserts roughly 294,000 foreign graduates through the Optional Practical Training program — and gives employers a financial reason to prefer them. Businesses hiring through OPT owe no Social Security or Medicare taxes on those workers — about $2.5 billion a year the trust fund never collects, and a discount that makes the American applicant the more expensive hire for doing nothing wrong. Congress never voted to create this program. It grew by regulation to more than 400% of its former size, until it outgrew the H-1B program it was designed to work around.

H.R. 2315, the Fairness for High-Skilled Americans Act, would end it. I am not asking you to explain why entry-level hiring collapsed. I am asking you to stop making it harder. Please support and pass H.R. 2315.

Greg Raven, Apple Valley, CA

Sent to:
Jay Obernolte