Workforce ‘ally-shoring’ brings benefits across borders

Excerpt

After a swing and a miss with the Summit of the Americas, President Biden and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s recent meeting at the White House was a critical opportunity to reset U.S.-Mexico relations. The Biden administration should jump on one of the topics the Mexican president raised — tapping Mexican labor markets to meet persistent worker shortages in critical occupations among U.S. employers.

In a new report published by the U.S.-Mexico Foundation, we argue that a skilled and mobile workforce, as part of a U.S.-Mexico “ally-shoring” framework, can help address chronic vacancies in the U.S., along with the biggest inter-related problems of both countries: supply chain disruption and dependencies, spiking inflation and the need for more good-paying jobs for more people.

As previously written, ally-shoring describes how countries can rework critical supply chains and source essential materials, goods and services among and between trusted democratic partners and allies. Addressing workforce dynamics and needs as part of an ally-shoring strategy enables mutual economic and employment benefits, supporting the availability of labor and skills to meet critical supply chains’ manufacturing and production requirements.