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Senator Pushes For Tougher H-1B Enforcement
mk1004 writes "Computerworld says that the industry lobbying group TechNet is calling on Congress to eliminate the per-country cap on H-1B workers. Last year a bill was passed in the house, 389-to-15, to remove the cap. Grassley put a hold on the bill in the Senate, indicating that he would be willing to lift the cap if companies faced an annual audit. The US currently allows 140K H-1B workers, but allows only 7% of those to come from any one country."
It's wonderful until the job market is flooded with 140k h1b workers working for absurdly low wages, soaking up the few jobs there are in your particular field, sending the bulk of what they do earn home instead of spending it here.
I'm sure corporate america loves the idea though. Can't get the price of capable labor down low enough? Bring in people that will live 6 to an apartment and work cheaper than anyone with those old, outdated ideas of a family, home and a lawn to mow!
smart immigration policies
The h-1b isn't a smart immigration policy. It's a tool to drive down US worker wages by making immigrants your bitch.
This isn't a "they tewk er jerbs" thing, either. Some of the crap the h-1bs go through... the immigrants deserve better, too.
They can, there are plenty of people with the qualifications they need. It's just that they would just have to pay more or offer better working conditions. The prospect of jobs that pay well and offer good working conditions would also cause more people to get their degree in a STEM field. The current push down on wages and into H1-B and outsourcing is why less students are choosing that career.
So, MS has to spend 30% more to hire an H1B than they would if there was a glut in the employee market? So how much less do they cost compared to the actual market rate under the actual conditions of supply?
So give them a green card so their employer can't hold their status hostage.
And who are these H1B workers on absurdly low wages? It costs Microsoft 30% more to hire foreigners on H1Bs because there aren't enough Americans graduating with master's and PhDs in STEM fields. MSFT would gladly hire Americans to do these jobs, if they could.
According to who, Microsoft? Gee, I can't think of any reason they might want to lie about this.
H1B workers are easily abused because changing jobs is far more difficult. The upfront costs of hiring them may be higher, but they end up working longer hours for less pay. That is why Microsoft, along with all the other tech giants, go before Congress every year and lie and beg.
Actually they already are in the workforce - so the question is a bit more subtle: whether the world's best and brightest work at companies in the USA or whether the world's best and brightest work at companies in other countries.
If you're an American worker, then the question you should be asking is whether you want the world's best and brightest working with you to make your American company successful or whether you want the world's best and brightest working at foreign companies competing against you.
The simplest solution is to raise the minimum salary for all H1B employees to something more reasonable, like between $100,000 to $150,000, depending on the area and profession. (Note this is a minimum, the maximum is open.)
That way companies would be forced to pay the extra amount for foreign workers if they really are needed, and be incentivize to first look for local talent and/or provide training.
And H1B's recipients would stop being considered as cheap low-cost labour putting downwards pressure on salaries.
No, it's just a skills shortage. We can't find anyone who's willing to work for $75kpa, who does exactly what we want them to do, but for someone else, with 10 years of experience in a language/product that's only been around for 5. That's why we need to hire people from overseas who can tell HR that they have 10 years of experience, and who will be willing to work for $70 kpa. It's simple really, and for the good of the nation.
That, or companies could actually take on university graduates like they used to do, train them, treat them well, and have some high class permanents who know what they're doing. Oh wait, that's a long term strategy. And long term's no good because in the long term we're all dead anyway.
Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
I am sorry man, but you have no idea about the reality of H1B workers. Most I have known are fairly smart people and they were already relatively well to-do by the standards of their country. They would certainly NOT come here to live 6 an apartment. Also, a lot of the successful ones eventually convert their H1B visa status to a more permanent visa to stay here. Now, it's possible that some of them send money back home. So what? Would you instead prefer to see entire corporate offices with ALL jobs moved to India, Taiwan, China, or Russia? This is not that hard at all, you know.
To put this a little blunt, this is a global competitive economy, and if you can't adapt then you should improve, change your career, or just perish. Sorry. No other way around this.
I take it you've not watched How NOT to hire an American then? Fraud is RAMPANT in the H1-B program, with BS qualifications like 5 years of Win 8 experience or 15 years of .NET being all too common. Then once they get the "qualified" H1-B they are paid below the market going rate for the ACTUAL job.
But in the end everyone here should be against the H1-B because not only are we looking at nearly a trillion in student loans, with defaults jumping to 12% in the past couple of years, but the simple fact it completely destroys supply and demand and makes sure there will NEVER be an American for those jobs. After all, what idiot is gonna go $50k-$75k in debt for a job they know they'll have to compete for with a guy that paid less than 15K for theirs?
In the end the vast majority of their wages will go overseas, never to return, and the H1-Bs themselves will go overseas with the education and work experience. if you look at the real numbers we are looking at something like 23% unemployment, what are we gonna do with all those people? Do you know how many are going straight from their college graduation to the unemployment lines? When you are in a recession and there aren't enough jobs to go around as it is the LAST thing you want is corps poisoning the system by distorting supply and demand and driving yet more money overseas.
Personally, I don't know about everyone else here, but i'm sick to damned death of the "just give the corps what they want and things will get better" horseshit. We have been doing that for over 20 years now, are things better? We have practically gutted regulation, the ACTUAL amount of taxes the fortune 500 pay thanks to loopholes has never been lower, with many corps like GE actually getting money out instead of putting any in, are things better? maybe for the 5% at the top but for everyone else it sure as hell ain't. When unemployment is below 4% then and ONLY then should we be talking about importing workers, not when we have many of our young people buried in student loans and working at the Pizza Hut.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
That, or companies could actually take on university graduates like they used to do, train them,....
Or get an experienced worker who's done alot of the work before but maybe in a different language or on a different platform?
As an experienced C++ programmer, it took me at most 3 hours to learn Java's syntax AND how to navigate around the libraries.
C#? Picked it up immediately.
I think hiring managers are the ones who need to realize that their particular technology or platform isn't all that special or any harder than any other platform or language.
Those laundry lists that HR has? The managers ordered them to do it. Remeber kids, HR works for management - don't let anyone tell you different.
And then there's the first line management cockiness that I see way too often You'll see it here. For example, folks saying that they can't get anyone qualified - too many "wannabes". WTF is a "wannabe"?
Or having problems getting folks because they can't find someone to answer some "key" question they ask like "Where do you see yourself in five years?", "What is your favorite IDE?" or "What kind of projects do you in your spare time?"
That last one is ridiculous. Uh, when I've been working 50+ hours a week (which is the norm now), the last thing I want or can do is go home and code. I NEED to workout, spend time with my wife, and relax with a movie, good book, or cook a meal for said loved ones. Code?
Oh wait, you want a 20 something or an immigrant with no ties and no life who have nothing better to do than sit in front of the computer.
Got it. I finally figured it out.
if you are qualified, my company wants to hire you
And there's the problem...what is the definition of "qualified"? I've been i this business for nearly thirty years. When I was laid off, I had about 3 years C# experience...as in heads down coding 80% of the day 5 days a week. It was my world.
Looking for work, people wouldn't even interview me because they wanted 5 years experience, or 4. One place wanted 1 year experience in some particular tool that I had gone to training for and used for nearly 10 months. Sorry...not enough "experience".
The hiring process at most companies is a joke of tick off the requirements line. If the airlines hired pilots like this, they'd reject an Air Force Colonel with 20 years at the stick of a C-5 because they aren't certified to fly a 747.
So I say cut the HB-1 stuff to a trickle and make the companies actually pay attention to the candidates instead of doing fucking keyword scans on resumes.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
In this case, skill shortage means a shortage of people possessing the skill and willing to work for less than the median salary for their chosen profession.
These comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of my employer or colleagues...
Then facilitate LEGAL immigration and capture the talent. Americans don't want to work and disdain many jobs because they think they are too precious to compete.
Import and retain skilled workers, denying them to other countries. Business is war and "defectors" are useful. "Brain drain" the competition and welcome new Americans.
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