Posted on 06/01/2015 9:13:59 AM PDT by ConservingFreedom
A recent study in the US by three economists – Kirk Doran of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, Alexander Gelber of the University of California, Berkeley, and Adam Isen of the office of tax analysis at the US department of the treasury – has found that H-1B visas do not lead to any significant increase in the number of patents and nor do they result in any significant job creation in America.
The findings of this study contradict many highlights of earlier reports, including one by big IT companies which was discussed at the US congress last month. According to that, every foreign-born worker in the US with a US STEM (science, technology, engineering & management) degree creates 2.62 jobs for US-born workers. It also said that every H-1B visa holder creates 1.83 jobs in the US. The recent report, The Effects of High-skilled Immigration on Firms: Evidence from H-1B Visa Lotteries, is surprisingly not causing concern to Indian IT companies, which are the largest users of H-1B visas and Indian IT professionals.
“It is an academic study. One of its authors has been doing work for years on the impact of immigration and guest workers on the labour market. I think the report will contribute to the debate. Its findings support what we know about how the H-1B programme is being used,” said Ron Hira, an immigration policy expert and associate professor of public policy at Howard University.
The backdrop to the recent debate is the US Immigration Innovation Act (I-Squared Act) which was introduced by senator Orrin Hatch in the US congress and is being promoted by the technology industry. “It would vastly expand the number of H-1Bs but includes no reforms to fix the programme from being used to replace American workers with cheaper guest workers,” said Hira. In his opinion, the Obama administration could do much more to crack down on H-1B abuse.
Immigration attorney Sheela Murthy of Maryland-based Murthy Law Firm doesn’t agree with the study on the issue of H-1B visas not leading to any significant increase in the number of patents. She is of the opinion that since many H-1B visa holders often are fresh graduates from university, it is likely that they are not ready to make a huge impact right away with patents and publications. “Most such developments occur after the candidates have been in the US for a few years,” said Murthy.
This year, too, demand for the H-1B work permit has outstripped supply with the United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) getting enough applications to reach the statutory cap of 65,000 within the first five days in April 2015, for the third consecutive year. In fact, a few years ago, the law was changed requiring the USCIS to wait for the first five business days to close the H-1B quota. It is likely that the H-1B quota was exhausted on the very first day, but the window had to keep the window open for the first five business days in April.
“The H-1B cap being raised will depend on how robust the US economy becomes,” Murthy added.
Manhattan-based immigration attorney Cyrus Mehta pointed out that foreign nationals are hired on H-1B visas in a number of critical fields, including teachers, and specialists in business and finance. “You can make contributions to the company and to the US economy as well as be a successful entrepreneur without filing patents. The study erroneously sets up an unrealistic expectation that patents will increase just because a firm hires foreign nationals on H-1B visas, and then shows that this is not happening,” said Mehta.
He said that an academic study has no bearing on ground reality. “Employers do not hire foreign nationals on H-1B visas because they wish to pay less wages.
They hire them because they have a genuine need for certain skills. At times hiring a foreign worker adds to the diversity and enriches the workplace with experiences from another country. The H-1B lottery is a cruel joke on employers and foreign national prospective employees,” Mehta added.
The most salient feature I see here is that a long term employment model is giving way to a contracting model.
There’s more than one way to make lemonade out of the economic lemons that are forcing this paradigm shift. To be willing to be a contractor too, opens more doors for the traditional American IT worker. It did for me. I’m actually working for an Indian firm right now, but there are non-Indian firms in the business too.
That theory ought to be tested by doing what they do in Japan with foreign workers: no quotas or limits, but just a requirement that foreign workers be paid a minimum of 10% more than natives doing the same jobs.
International securities trading, just to name one industry there, used to have a lot of foreign workers. Now, not so much. Rising wage levels attracted more natives. Who could've seen that coming?
If the door hasn't been slammed shut after the room has been filled with Third World indentured drones.
The Times of India commenting on their country’s drive to replace american IT workers.
Yeah, I’m sure they are as believable as the Pope (and I don’t believe him either).
Business wants lower payrolls to be effectively subsidized at the expense of American workers.
I think the local guy is still going to be able to offer some tangible advantages. One of the reasons they wanted me, I believe, is because I can think like the client. I’m not foreign.
Which matters to employers looking past the quarterly earnings report - but all too many don't.
That is a great idea (pay 10% more)! My two sons are both studying Computer Science and I know the demand is great. However, I have been perusing various forums and American IT graduates are having a hell of a time finding work.
Corporations with no loyalty to America want to supplant them with indentured Third World drones (H-1B) to improve their quarterly earnings reports.
Dr. Michio Kaku America Has A Secret Weapon
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DNK0Y9j_CGgM
Michio Kaku discussess H1B Visas and US Education System
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DQty1xqvQBrA
“there are 50% more graduates than job openings in the STEM fields.” - http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2014/05/16/scholars-debunk-claims-of-high-tech-workers-shortage-question-industry-s-free-pass/
She majored in marketing or something fairly commonplace at one of the many colleges here in the Pittsburgh area. He had a scholarship which paid for a large part of his tuition at Carnegie-Mellon, one of the best IT schools in the country.
They got married shortly before their senior year. She got a job in the Pittsburgh area. The best he could do was a so-so job on the opposite side of the state. All of his classmates from India and a scattering of other foreign countries were getting multiple job offers, including our area.
The young man commuted for two years being home mostly only on weekends for his young bride before finally landing a decent job in the Pittsburgh area.
It seems some of the local IT companies were shamed when someone posted a You-Tube video of a seminar being held downtown at a posh hotel on how not to hire Americans. I kid you not. I hope it is still there because it ought to go viral again.
One other thing that hasn’t been mentioned is they basically work without complaint, meaning they also don’t think “out of the box” and just do as they are told. A lot of managers like that kind of behavior because it gives the manager more power and they don’t have to deal with opinions.
It causes lack of innovation and creativity in the workplace and Big IT is failing because of their desire to hire as few American born workers as possible. H1B= “yes men”.
Indeed:
“Look at what all that cheap foreign labor did for Microsoft.
“They were the biggest tech giant on the planet; controlled practically 95% of the operating systems in home and office, - then missed out on all of the major tech developments of the 21st century ( revamped search engines, digital music, smartphones, tablets, social media ).”
- http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3291987/posts?page=73#73
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