Bill > S891

This bill, titled the "American Jobs in American Forests Act of 2013," aims to increase American employment by requiring employers seeking to hire H-2B nonimmigrants, which are foreign workers temporarily admitted to the U.S. for non-agricultural labor or services, to first demonstrate a genuine effort to recruit American workers. Specifically, before an employer can petition to hire these foreign workers for forestry jobs, they must undertake robust recruitment efforts, including advertising at job fairs, through State and local workforce agencies, and in appropriate media. The bill also mandates that State workforce agencies must certify that employers have met these recruitment requirements and, crucially, that there are no qualified or available American workers to fill the positions before the U.S. Department of Labor can grant a temporary labor certification for H-2B nonimmigrants.