More than 300,000 employees are needed to run the Marriott Hotel, but worker availability is dwindling. Since immigration law tightened its grip against undocumented immigrants, many workers have gone back to their native countries. The scarcity of workers willing to do jobs that Americans are unwilling to do is palpable.

Chief Executive Officer Bill Marriott expressed his concern over the declining number of workers for his Marriot Hotel chains across the country, which negatively impacts his business and the entire hotel industry. He said that the agricultural farms, industrial and retail sectors are also feeling the pinch.

“The consequences of the decreasing number of immigrant workers affect the overall U.S. economy,” Marriot said, adding that if the broken immigration system is not fixed, the situation is expected to worsen.

The White House and Congress, he said, have failed to reconcile the issues of immigration and national security. As a result, many tourists now prefer to visit European countries.

Meanwhile, about 66,000 foreign workers under H2-B visa [issued for temporary workers] should have been admitted to work in the United States this year. However, the quota has not been fixed since September 2007, causing system-wide problems.

Agricultural workers generally are issued H2-A visas [given mostly to seasonal farm workers], but according to the State Department the quota for said visas has also been reduced. Statistics shows that the H2-A visas given in 2006 include: 79,992 for immigrant workers from Mexico; 13,129, Jamaica; 4,961, Guatemala; 3,081, Romania; 1,902, South Africa; 1,640, the Philippines; 1,591, Brazil; 1,549, United Kingdom; 1,345, Bulgaria; and 1,343, Dominican Republic.