An unpaid consultant on workforce development in Wisconsin recommended Gov. Scott Walker to attract more immigrants to fill job openings, according to The Milwaukee Business Journal.
Consultant Tim Sullivan told The Business Journal’s Jobs Forum discussion at The Wisconsin Club in Milwaukee that he will include his views on making Wisconsin more immigrant-friendly in his recommendations to Walker next month.
Sullivan is a business executive who heads Gov. Walker’s initiative for workforce development. He pointed to the examples of Canada and Australia as successes in recruiting immigrants to help those countries’ economies grow.
Just 10 years ago, 5 percent of workers on Wisconsin dairy farms were immigrants — but by 2008, that number jumped to 40 percent, or more than 5,000 workers, according to a 2009 study by the UW-Madison Program on Agricultural Technology Studies.
Wisconsin’s economy will not be able to keep pace with the rest of the nation without addressing the need for more immigrants and making significant changes to the K-12 and technical college education, Sullivan said.
