Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at accounting, tax and consulting firm RSM US, has a clear solution for Orange County’s difficulties in finding people to fill jobs in the tech sector: immigration reform to attract more qualified workers.
“We’re just not able to produce enough native-born individuals who have those skill sets or the desire to work in that industry,” Brusuelas told the Business Journal late last month, before a talk to executives in Irvine.
“We’re at that portion of the business cycle where Orange County firms are just facing the tightest labor market in recent memory.”
Orange County non-farm employment grew 0.8% on an annual basis in August, far slower than that in adjacent Los Angeles and San Diego counties, a gap that Brusuelas chalks up to a “lack of available labor” in OC.
“We’re going to need to have immigration reform in order to meet the demand,” according to Brusuelas, whose Chicago-based firm’s Irvine office is OC’s sixth- largest accountancy, and 16th-largest management consulting firm, with some 211 local workers.
Be Like Toronto
Brusuelas points to Toronto as the No. 1 North American city for innovation, crediting Canada’s liberal immigration policies in contrast to President Donald Trump administration’s stance.
“This is one of the unfortunate byproducts of the shift in national policy,” Brusuelas said of the Trump administration.
“Near the end of the business cycle we’re starting to run into bottlenecks in places like Orange County. Orange County is not alone here,” with similar tightening in places as diverse as Boston and Seattle.
Jobs in the information and technology sector in OC even dropped slightly over the past year, according to the state’s Employment Development Department. The county’s unadjusted unemployment rate fell to 3% in August from a revised 3.2 % in July, in another sign of a tightening labor market.
“We do need to lift the caps on people who are educated and want to get in the country no matter where they’re from because we absolutely need those workers,” said Brusuelas, who grew up in Southern California.
Schools, Housing
“The shift in immigration policy has had a second-order effect in terms of discouraging individuals to come work here. You’re seeing a drop in applications for admission to [area] universities.”
He suggested an effort to retain graduates from California State University-Fullerton and University of California-Irvine in OC and then “you fill the gaps by attracting people from elsewhere” to help meet demand.
Another key point is making sure people can afford a roof over their heads once they start to work here.
“Something’s going to have to be done about housing. There’s just not enough housing,” Brusuelas said, a situation that’s led to an “absolute, critical shortage.”
