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Interesting, seems to be more people raising their voices against the program.
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But amid calls for expanding the nation’s so-called H-1B visa program, there is growing pushback from Americans who argue the program has been hijacked by staffing companies that import cheaper, lower-level workers to replace more expensive U.S. employees — or keep them from getting hired in the first place.
“It’s getting pretty frustrating when you can’t compete on salary for a skilled job,” said Rich Hajinlian, a veteran computer programmer from the Boston area. “You hear references all the time that these big companies ... can’t find skilled workers. I am a skilled worker.”
Hajinlian, 56, who develops his own web applications on the side, said he applied for a job in April through a headhunter and that the potential client appeared interested, scheduling a longer interview. Then, said Hajinlian, the headhunter called back and said the client had gone with an H-1B worker whose annual salary was about $10,000 less.
“I didn’t even get a chance to negotiate down,” he said.
The H-1B program allows employers to temporarily hire workers in specialty occupations. The government issues up to 85,000 H-1B visas to businesses every year, and recipients can stay up to six years. Although no one tracks exactly how many H-1B holders are in the U.S., experts estimate there are at least 600,000 at any one time. Skilled guest workers can also come in on other types of visas.
An immigration bill passed in the U.S. Senate last year would have increased the number of annually available H-1B visas to 180,000 while raising fees and increasing oversight, although language was removed that would have required all companies to consider qualified U.S. workers before foreign workers are hired....
Some argue an age bias
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Stanford University Law School fellow Vivek Wadwha, a startup adviser, said firms are so starved for talent they are buying up other companies to obtain skilled employees. If there’s a bias against Americans, he said, it’s an age bias based on the fact that older workers may not have the latest skills. More than 70 percent of H-1B petitions approved in 2012 were for workers between the ages of 25 and 34.
“If workers don’t constantly retrain themselves, their skills become obsolete,” he said.
Norm Matloff, a computer science professor at the University of California, Davis, agreed that age plays into it — not because older workers are less skilled but because they typically require higher pay. Temporary workers also tend to be cheaper because they don’t require long-term health care for dependents and aren’t around long enough to get significant raises, he said.
Because they can be deported if they lose their jobs, these employees are often loath to complain about working conditions. And even half the standard systems analyst salary in the U.S. is above what an H-1B holder would earn back home.
Such circumstances concern Americans searching for work in a still recovering economy.
I think the issue is larger and multifaceted. There is age in some part, there is also cost (not just wage) even replacement costs off the employee leaves at some point that cause H1-B workers to be more attractive sometimes. Granted, I would rather see me American workers to cause the long term growth the economy actually needs to not circle the proverbial toilet bowl.
I think by now most people get it that in a labor market like this when employers complain about skill shortages they are full of excrement. More like there is a shortage of Americans willing to go to college for 6+ years, be at the top of their classes and then be willing to work for no benefits on contract for <$20 per hour.
The corps like have a disposable army of underpaid skilled workers they can underpay and abuse to their hearts consent under threat of having the worker sent back home to the detriment of working Americans.
OMG thank you for posting this. I am sick of being "outcompeted" by incompetent Indians whose written/spoken English is barely intelligible that can't program their way out of a WET PAPER BAG.
As the article says, it's mainly a matter of wages. Of course, that existed even before the immigrants, think of the youngsters replacing the elderlies in some industries. Always the same stories.
There are probably some abuse, but there are definitely some very specific domains at the heart of multiple fields where the competencies are definitely lacking, and we end up requiring to hire a person with only one background, and train him through, with all the vagaries.
Another misconception (or not?) I often hear about elderlies is that beside the wage, they are also said to be less willing to work hard to achieve objectives, or learn new skills. Somehow, managers often hear that story and that might play a role.
Now replace elderlies with Americans just to see!
So unless you are a super star, it's getting more and more difficult with experience. But is that solely related to immigrants, or the way the society perceives some employees?
Basically, the way I see it: with minimal experience, a young American has as much chances as any immigrant but it becomes less favourable with time...
It seems mostly to be companies' greed. They don't want to pay American workers for the jobs, so they hire foreign workers, and make mountains out of molehills of a smaller problem (lack of skilled local workers) that makes their "plight" believable.
I actually absolutely agree about the age discrimination happens, but unfortunately this is true all across the country, with or without the use of visas. Personally I think it is not just the wage difference, but young employees can be easier exploited, for example they are less likely to have a family which might be in the way of regular late night hours. More experienced people are just less likely to put up with this and if they are, they will demand adequate compensation. Which is how it should be, but young people often want to get ahead and making significant sacrifices seems to be a precondition for this.
But about the demand for more H1B visas, there is a specific reason the current amount isn't sufficient anymore. Temporary employment agencies and outsourcing companies have started clogging the whole system, taking a large percentage of all available visas. Their whole business model relies on the fact that you can pay visa holders less than permanent residents or citizens.
Only a small percentage is reserved for postgraduate degree holder which undoubtedly are more likely to be hired for specialty positions that are hard to hire for.
So sure, one can issue more visas because companies actually do need have a need for foreign skilled workers, but the reason they can't get visas for these workers is not because there aren't enough, it is because too large a percentage is being used by temp agencies ( which might be American companies) and outsourcing companies, two business models that couldn't exist without relying on underpaid foreign workers. So yes, in a way visas take jobs from permanent residents and citizens, but not because of a matter of principle, but because many go to two business models that couldn't exist were they to primarily hire from the available job force in the U.S.
It is common knowledge that nowadays one needs a bachelor's for jobs that could be done by what is called unskilled workers. There is a surplus of young workers with bachelor degrees who can't get jobs that are more in line with their education. Somehow curbing the ability of temp agencies and outsourcing companies to hire so many skilled but underpaid workers could help with this problem.
The key point to remember is that an H-1B visa should only be issued if no US citizen or permanent resident can do the job. There's nothing in there about if the US based worker is too expensive or too old.
Quote:
Then, said Hajinlian, the headhunter called back and said the client had gone with an H-1B worker whose annual salary was about $10,000 less.
This is pure nonsense. That is not a justification for issuing an H-1B visa and there is no reason the gentleman in question should have needed to lower his salary requirements.
The key point to remember is that an H-1B visa should only be issued if no US citizen or permanent resident can do the job. There's nothing in there about if the US based worker is too expensive or too old.
This is pure nonsense. That is not a justification for issuing an H-1B visa and there is no reason the gentleman in question should have needed to lower his salary requirements.
This is evidence that the system is being abused and we certainly do NOT need to issue more!!!!!!!!!
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