Skilled Immigrants and U.S. Living Standards

Kudos to Harvard professor Greg Mankiw, once head of W's Council of Economic Advisors, for raising the issue of this country's skilled worker shortage on his recent blog. Mankiw quotes from Matthew Slaughter's recent WSJ column, which challenges the government to remove the cap on H1-B visas to allow more skilled immigrants into the country. This is an issue on which manufacturers have been lobbying for years. Not only will it aide them, but as Professor Slaughter observes, it's simply one more tool to help help us maintain higher living standards in the United States.