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Letters to the Editor | Wed, 05/27/2015 - 9:58 am | Updated 20 hours 15 min ago | Read 116 | Commented 5 | Emailed 0
To the Editor: In response to several posts in this newspaper’s Spout Off section about international students working in Cape May County during the summer, it is important that the benefits of the program are also shared. Tourism in Cape May County is a $5.8-billion industry and is the number one job creator. Students who participate in the Summer Work Travel Program in Cape May County provide a valuable asset to the local economy by enabling many seasonal businesses to be open when the local workforce is not available or sufficient in numbers. Business owners consider international student workers as supplemental to the local workforce with a preference to hiring local residents. The reality is that without these international students, Cape May County would experience huge economic losses due to our insufficient number of available local workers between March and October as well as the loss of jobs that are supported by the Summer Work Travel program itself. The Cape May County Chamber of Commerce supports this program and considers it integral to the success of our seasonal tourism industry. The Summer Work Travel Program was created to promote educational and cultural exchanges with other countries and is administered through the U. S. Department of State as a public diplomacy program. Students work to support themselves and experience the American workplace and way of life. This program has far-reaching benefits for the United States at no cost to the American public.
Vicki Clark is the Cape May County Chamber of Commerce president
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