Posted on 04/29/2009 6:49:17 AM PDT by seatrout
Large corporations prefer to use H-1B visas to hire foreign engineers and computer technicians. H-1B workers increased threefold during the Clinton administration, and CEOs are constantly demanding that the number be raised or even unlimited.
Large corporations prefer H-1B foreigners because they work for lower wages with fewer rights. A recent study by researchers at top business schools reported that H-1B visas depress wages for software engineers and programmers by as much as 6 percent.
The cumulative effect, as described by another study, depresses wages even more. Many U.S. engineers even lost their jobs just after they were required to train their foreign replacements.
The Americans hardest hit by H-1B visas, according to these researchers, are recent college graduates and those who want to change jobs. One of the reasons why big corporations prefer to hire H-1Bers is that foreign workers are restrained, almost like indentured servants, from changing jobs and competing with their original employer.
Americans used indentured services in the 1600s when plantation workers were brought to Virginia to work for seven years in exchange for a free voyage to the New World. Later, this practice was supplanted by African slavery.
That's certainly not a model to imitate today. H-1B visas disrupt the free enterprise system that has yielded tremendous wealth to America and the world.
(Excerpt) Read more at humanevents.com ...
You're a broken record. Compete with what? Third-world programmers with third-world housing costs?
Bump!
If an employee provides more value (lower cost/benefit ratio), then why should the government force the company the choice of being (a) inefficient and uncompetitive in America, or (b) move overseas to be more competitive?
So, with all the IT layoffs, why are you allegedly having a hard time finding American workers?
There is a competitive advantage to being in-country. H-1B visas take that advantage away from American workers. You would want every advantage to go to the employer, instead of having a level playing field.
And in the Clintonian 90s, this sort of discipline was discarded and replaced with short-term faux-"prosperity"--and is still considered acceptable many places, while the accounting folks play games to hide the costs.
This isn't even directly related to H1-B visas, either. It seems like most of the students in engineering schools are foreign-born, too.
I noticed this when I went into engineering in the early 1970s. The older engineers were nearly non-existent. They disappeared gradually with each lay-off. If you're a young engineer, save your money. There's a very very high probability that you're going to need it before retirement age.
So why haven’t a bunch of American IT folks gotten together and formed a killer company that will wipe the competition out by hiring all these great Americans and paying them far above market?
When did it happen that the laws of supply and demand are only allowed to benefit the employer and not the employee? Being in-country is a competitive advantage for a given worker. The H-1B law specifically says an H-1B can only be hired if an American cannot be found. So by the law itself, we cannot bring foreign workers in just to lower wages for Americans, as you wish to have done.
Guys like you are killing the GOP with your wage-killing inanities.
A friend of my son’s is an Engineering student at GaTech. He only has one semester to go and he can’t find a summer internship...not even an unpaid one. Part, of course, is due to the economy, but it makes one wonder what the role of H1B’s is in the lack of jobs.
How about we eliminate H1B visas and add a 6% tariff on imported software/computer/electronic products, and dedicate that tariff solely to paying off the national debt?
“So why haven’t a bunch of American IT folks gotten together and formed a killer company that will wipe the competition out by hiring all these great Americans and paying them far above market?”
Because that wouldn’t make news.
I’m an engineer. Worked for an oil company. Realized I was being used in exactly 6 weeks. Learned what I could learn in 2 years, saved my money and made contacts.
I now have a couple of planes, one I fly, one I have flown for me.
Sounds like a great opportunity to start your own company.
I agree, 100%. I manage a medium sized group of engineers... I have one from Maylasia here on an H1B. We are currently trying to get her on permanent worker status and, the governmental red-tape is ridiculous.
The reason we have her? She is VERY talented. Probably, the best engineer that I have. She is NOT paid any less than her peers... In fact, she is paid more because she has earned it.
We are almost always looking for good engineering talent. Especially those who show an aptitude to move into technical sales... sadly, these are rare.
For sure... the government could ruin the market for local engineers if we opened the gates fully... but, from what I see, we're a LONG way from that.
Boomers to the rescue !?!
CB^)
You can't kill off foreign competition. Indian companies, for example have a home-field advantage in their own country. I have no problem with competing against workers functioning in their own country. I do have a problem with H-1B being abused to curtail my competitive advantage in this country. A programmer in India can make half of what I do and live quite well. He should stay there.
Actually, most of the students in GRADUATE engineering programs are foreign-born.
There are certainly a good percentage of undergrad engineering students who are foreigners, but an even higher number in grad school because most American kids get that bachelors in engineering and go right to work.
Reality never seems to get in your way, does it?
I've dealt with that outfit for QA, as well as Phillipenes-based QA. Neither is very good. I've had to teach both how to do their jobs, even though doing such wasn't part of my job.
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