New York City shelters are overwhelmed with migrants.
Many of them have arrived in Texas or Florida and then taken buses to New York, where shelter and benefits are guaranteed. However, the city is scrambling as the number continues to climb and the migrants look to build a new life in America, which includes housing and work.
But for companies like Tyson Foods Inc., struggling to fill unpopular jobs with a U.S. unemployment rate of 3.9%, this new population presents an alluring opportunity.
The food processing company wants to hire 52,000 asylum seekers for factory jobs, offering a starting wage of $16.50 per hour along with benefits. The company understands and is aware that these are jobs that many find unpleasant, such as washing meat, placing the cuts into trays, final inspections for bones and packing meat, but believe this will help the refugees to start a life in America.
For example, the company says that it has allocated $1.5 million a year for legal aid services and will be providing its new employees with temporary housing, on-site child care, transportation, a relocation stipend, and paid time off to attend court hearings and to adjust to their new homes.
The company joined forces with the nonprofit Tent Partnership for Refugees, a network of over 400 major companies committed to helping refugees find jobs, with the plan to hire as many people as possible from the more than 180,000 asylum seekers that have come through New York City’s shelter system. Tyson, for example, already employs about 42,000 immigrants.
According to an Economic Policy Institute analysis of federal data, about 50% of the labor market’s recent growth came from foreign-born workers between January 2023 and January 2024.
Read the full story at Scripps.
