New York City Mayor Eric Adams suggested immigrants as a possible solution to the city's lifeguard shortage because they are "excellent swimmers."
Adams was asked at a briefing Tuesday if lifeguard staffing at the city's pools and beaches would be an issue as Memorial Day approaches.
Adams responded by asking the reporter to imagine if the city could expedite work licenses for migrants and asylum seekers for jobs that are in high demand.
"How do we have a large body of people that are in our city, and country, that are excellent swimmers and at the same time we need lifeguards — and the only obstacle is that we won’t give them the right to work to become a lifeguard?" Adams said.
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The city's deputy mayor for Health and Human Services, Anne Williams-Isom, said there are more than 197,100 migrants in New York City and 50,000 applications for asylum.
"So we have all these eligible people waiting to work with the skills we need to fill the jobs, but we're unable to allow them to work because bureaucracy is in the way," Adams said. "That's just — that just does not make sense."
Adams also referenced other in-demand professions, including food service workers and nurses, that migrants could be fast-tracked to work in.
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The mayor's office did not immediately respond to a request for further comment Tuesday evening.
There are 560 people who qualify to be lifeguards in the city this year as opposed to the 364 lifeguard-qualifed people last year, according to NYC Deputy Mayor of Operations Meera Joshi, who was also at the briefing.
There is a national lifeguard shortage in the U.S., according to the American Lifeguard Association. The pandemic is partially blamed by the group, which says Covid eliminated training opportunities, and created a perspective that lifeguarding isn't an essential job or career.
"As the summer approaches, there is a growing concern that public swimming pools across America may be closed again due to a lifeguard shortage," the American Lifeguard Association said, adding that "about a third of the country’s 309,000 public swimming pools" were closed or opened inconsistently last year as a result.
Two years ago, Gov. Kathy Hochul approved lowering the minimum age for certified lifeguards from 16 to 15 to help curtail the shortage, NBC New York reported.
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