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Congress Will Consider Proposal To Raise H-1B Minimum Wage To $100,000 (arstechnica.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the adjusted-for-inflation dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: President-elect Donald Trump is just a week away from taking office. From the start of his campaign, he has promised big changes to the US immigration system. For both Trump's advisers and members of Congress, the H-1B visa program, which allows many foreign workers to fill technology jobs, is a particular focus. One major change to that system is already under discussion: making it harder for companies to use H-1B workers to replace Americans by simply giving the foreign workers a raise. The "Protect and Grow American Jobs Act," introduced last week by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif. and Scott Peters, D-Calif., would significantly raise the wages of workers who get H-1B visas. If the bill becomes law, the minimum wage paid to H-1B workers would rise to at least $100,000 annually, and be adjusted it for inflation. Right now, the minimum is $60,000. The sponsors say that would go a long way toward fixing some of the abuses of the H-1B program, which critics say is currently used to simply replace American workers with cheaper, foreign workers. In 2013, the top nine companies acquiring H-1B visas were technology outsourcing firms, according to an analysis by a critic of the H-1B program. (The 10th is Microsoft.) The thinking goes that if minimum H-1B salaries are brought closer to what high-skilled tech employment really pays, the economic incentive to use it as a worker-replacement program will drop off. "We need to ensure we can retain the world's best and brightest talent," said Issa in a statement about the bill. "At the same time, we also need to make sure programs are not abused to allow companies to outsource and hire cheap foreign labor from abroad to replace American workers." The H-1B program offers 65,000 visas each fiscal year, with an additional 20,000 reserved for foreign workers who have advanced degrees from US colleges and universities. The visas are awarded by lottery each year. Last year, the government received more than 236,000 applications for those visas.

14 of 540 comments (clear)

  1. Well Trump has one thing right by ShooterNeo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm not a big fan of Trump, but if he actually delivers on this campaign promise (even if it's just scrawling his signature on the bill and then taking all the credit in speeches) that will be a good thing for me and most employed people on slashdot.

    Is there any way this is a bad thing? H1B was supposed to be for bringing in essential foreign talent. If a company isn't willing to pay $100k per year plus the various expenses, whoever they are bringing it must not have been all that talented.

    1. Re:Well Trump has one thing right by Narcocide · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The problem is the loopholes though. This act won't improve shit if companies are still allowed to skim 95% of that 100k salary and fill H1-B seats with 5$/hour contractors instead.

    2. Re:Well Trump has one thing right by ShooterNeo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If the client pays $100k it's still a more viable option for them to consider hiring an American, except of course in California. This also fixes another loophole where nonprofits could bring in all the H1Bs they want with no cap - they still can, but needing to pay $100k, indexed for inflation, is a lot better than it is now.

      Making the bill even sweeter, actual wages in America are NOT increasing with inflation. So in 10 or 20 years, that 100k will effectively be even higher.

    3. Re:Well Trump has one thing right by knightghost · · Score: 5, Insightful

      A completely free market leads to monopolies and continually lower standards of living for the majority of citizens.

      Completely free markets are just as bad as communism and socialism.

    4. Re:Well Trump has one thing right by Ritz_Just_Ritz · · Score: 5, Insightful

      True. They are pretty much indentured servants. If they move to another company, the new company has to be willing to go through all the legal BS to continue their H1-B and potentially their green card paperwork. So there is a lot of incentive to not bounce around.

      The whole H1-B program is mostly a sham. Go to any Fortune X company and do a skill assessment of their foreign contractors. The number that turn out to be "exceptional talents" with hard to find degrees or special training/experience is actually rather small. The consulting companies barely go through the motions to hide that so the expectation of getting caught seems to be pretty low.

    5. Re:Well Trump has one thing right by zippthorne · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yes. Right now the US has a huge crony capitalism problem, that's been built upon by decades of democrats and republicans. And they're fighting tooth and fucking nail to stop Trump anyway they can from breaking their gravy train.

      The language you use to describe the problem is hurting your ability to solve the problem. You could as much call it crony socialism and be describing exactly the same thing, but the solutions that would get proposed would look somewhat different (and would invariably fail to eliminate the crony component, which is the actual loathsome bit.)

      We have a problem with politically connected entities being able to obtain special privileges for themselves at the public's expense.

      --
      Can you be Even More Awesome?!
    6. Re:Well Trump has one thing right by Dahamma · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Are you fucking serious? This is the same Trump who just nominated the who's who of crony capitalism for his cabinet?

      Trump gives zero shits about cronyism or the "swamp" or any such thing. He said anything necessary to get elected, and has even admitted such repeatedly. In fact, saying he gives zero shits is inaccurate - he is all in favor of cronyism, he just found it expedient to say otherwise because his sheeple followers believed anything he said.

      "Funny how that term caught on, isn't it?" Trump mused during a rally this month in Des Moines, Iowa. "I tell everyone, I hated it. Somebody said 'drain the swamp' and I said, 'Oh, that is so hokey. That is so terrible.'"
      "I said, all right, I'll try it," Trump continued. "So like a month ago I said 'drain the swamp' and the place went crazy. And I said 'Whoa, what's this?' Then I said it again. And then I start saying it like I meant it, right? And then I started to love it, and the place loved it. Drain the swamp. It's true. It's true. Drain the swamp."

    7. Re:Well Trump has one thing right by Dahamma · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You say this, but with what proof? And inflation is not always a bad thing, especially if the average income and standard of living outpaces it.

      As a counter, Walmart raised their minimum wage this year, and saw significant revenue gains, because their employees now have more money to re-inject into the economy aka buy shit at Walmart!

      It's been long established that when you give lots of money to already rich people, they just stash it away. When you give money to poor people, they actually immediately go and spend it to but what they need. Trickle down economics is the biggest fucking joke, it just doesn't work.

    8. Re:Well Trump has one thing right by drinkypoo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You don't even need to make them citizens, just make it so they own their own visa. Then they can change jobs at will.

      We don't want them changing jobs at will. They are here to fill a specific need. Once they have done that, they should go home and employ their skills there. We have qualified citizens here who need jobs. Up until we institute a MGI, we're going to need to be protectionist about those jobs.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  2. Tipping point by Citizen+of+Earth · · Score: 5, Interesting

    How many companies will see this as the tipping point to it making more sense to move the company to where the H-1B workers are instead of continuing to do the work inside the USA?

  3. Good. by generic_screenname · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The goal of the H1B program is supposedly to bring talent to this country that simply cannot be had otherwise. Talent like that should be rare and paid accordingly.

  4. Re:Still too low by DiSKiLLeR · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yeah, $100k is definitely still too low.

    $150k to $200k ideally.

    --
    You can tell how powerful someone is by the magnitude of the crime they can commit and be able to get away with.
  5. Close The Masters Degree Loophole by RoscoeChicken · · Score: 5, Insightful

    My graduate program is chock full of unqualified "fresher" Indians looking to exploit the Masters degree loophole.

    Best and the brightest? Don't make me laugh.

  6. Kill it with fire by Gavrielkay · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The only real solution to the H1-B problem is to eliminate it entirely. If somehow it's true that finding talent is so hard that we need to import it, then institute a proper accelerated green card program for properly qualified folks and let them compete with Americans on equal legal footing. The H1-B program creates indentured servants who risk getting tossed out on their ear if they don't stay in line. That is the edge they have over American workers who are free to leave oppressive conditions. I think that is what companies want out of it, not the talent. Just look at who is actually hiring these folks for proof.

    So no, raising the minimum H1-B wage is just theater. Kill the program and replace it with something far more fair for everyone involved. Well, except the greedy companies sucking the job out of life.