Buried in President Trump’s 80-minute State of the Union address Tuesday night were several references of particular importance to restaurateurs. Here’s a run-through that should take you about 77 minutes less than watching a tape of the speech.
Help on recruiting labor
One of the ways the industry is trying to ease its talent shortage is by promoting the business as an alternative career path for individuals who don’t want to spend years in college or run up crippling student debts. President Trump has already helped in that effort with his administration’s support of private-sector apprenticeships. The National Restaurant Association has promoted the unconventional form of education by developing a model pathway under a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor. Apprenticeships also dovetail with the association's effort to position foodservice as a means of pursuing a career in any number of disciplines, from marketing through technology, without attending college.
The president added topspin Tuesday by calling for the expansion of another education alternative that routinely feeds talent to the restaurant industry. “As tax cuts create new jobs, let us invest in workforce development and job training,” Trump said. “Let us open great vocational schools so our future workers can learn a craft and realize their full potential.”
Another looming labor cost
Those words were barely out of Trump’s mouth when he proposed another workplace initiative that will be far less popular among restaurateurs. “Let us support working families by supporting paid family leave,” he said.
White House support for paid family leave, whereby employees could take time to care for a newborn or an ill family member without sacrificing their pay or job, has been expected for some time. Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, has been an advocate of that benefit since before her father was elected.
The industry opposes paid family leave because it could require them to pay two people for the same job, the one currently fulfilling it, and the one on leave. But new models, like the one now in force in New York, shift that cost to employees.
Immigration changes
A major focus of the State of the Union was U.S. immigration policy and the president’s conviction that reform is direly needed to protect Americans. “Open borders have allowed drugs and gangs to pour into our most vulnerable communities,” he said in one of the more controversial passages of his speech. “They have allowed millions of low-wage workers to compete for jobs and wages against the poorest Americans.”
Trump outlined four pillars of the changes he intends to pursue with Congress. Three of those had pertinence to restaurants, which have been at odds with the chief executive on immigration reform.
The president called for ending the lottery system for awarding work visas, whereby immigrants are chosen at random for green cards entitling them to work any job. “It is time to begin moving towards a merit-based immigration system,” where higher-skilled applicants would get a preference, Trump said. Under that change, restaurants would likely find fewer immigrants in the industry’s labor pool.
He also declared his support for finding a path to citizenship for 1.8 million so-called Dreamers—immigrants who are in the country illegally because they were brought here at a young age by their parents without proper authority. The restaurant industry is believed to be a major employer of that group.
The third pillar of the plan already presented to Congress would limit so-called chain migration, or one immigrant bringing in members of his or her family. “Under our plan, we focus on the immediate family by limiting sponsorships to spouses and minor children,” said Trump.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that restaurants often field job applications from cousins, uncles and in-laws of immigrants already on the payroll.
The fourth component of Trump’s plan is building a wall along the Mexican border.
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