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H-1Bs Reduced Computer Programmer Employment By Up To 11%, Study Finds (marketwatch.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from MarketWatch: There would have been up to 11% more computer science jobs at wages up to 5% higher were it not for the immigration program that brings in foreign high-skilled employees, a new study finds. The paper -- by John Bound and Nicolas Morales of the University of Michigan and Gaurav Khanna of the University of California, San Diego -- was conducted by studying the economy between 1994 and 2001, during the internet boom. It was also a period where the recruitment of so-called H-1B labor was at or close to the cap and largely before the onset of the vibrant IT sector in India. In 2001, the number of U.S. computer scientists was between 6.1%-10.8% lower and wages were between 2.6% and 5.1% lower. Of course, there also were beneficiaries -- namely consumers and employers. Immigration lowered prices by between 1.9% and 2.4%, and profits increased as did the total number of IT firms.
>> there also were beneficiaries -- namely consumers and employers
Er...have you have had to deal with H1B code? Most of the "security vulnerabilities" and other showstopping bugs I've seen over the last ten years could be traced to a "consultant" working as an indentured servant for one of the interchangeable Indian body shops.
Niether is good, no matter what you have heard.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
Every H1 job here in the US generate 2-3 jobs in the local economy.
Citation Required.
If people come into this country from a place where prices are 50% less because of a weak economy, and this causes me to make 50% less, I just want *my* prices in my economy to be 50% less so that my buying power balances as an agent in the market. How is this racist?
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
I have always viewed every discussion about H-1B on Slashdot with the assumption that the only reason people complained about them is because they're salty about the competition
There is plenty of work to go around. No-one cares about that at all.
the truth is that I thought it was an alternative path for immigration
it is but it is a TERRIBLE path. I have a number of good friends who came in as H1-B and eventually became citizens. That is great, I'm happy they made it in. But the H1-B program allowed for basically years and years of legal abuse for these guys. They really could not think of looking for another job and during layoffs they were way more fearful of being laid off than most workers. Similarly if there was a problem in the workplace they simply could not speak up because of potential consequences if they lost their job.
That's my problem with the program, is that it is abusing people in the system, all while claiming to be a benefit... primarily it helps companies get cheaper programmers who cannot complain.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
This assumes that H1B holders are actually as skilled as they're claimed to be, and can find work easily after losing a job. Which was true in the 90s, but not since. If an H1B worker loses his/her job, he's actually out of status: in fact, that's what people bring up when they point out that immigration overstayers outnumber those who illegally come from Mexico.
Also, your latter statement is a technicality, but actually applies more to an H1B holder than a GC. The people who feel tied to their employer are H1B workers whose employers have applied for their GC: they are compelled to either remain until their I485 is approved, or reset the process. The only way your first statement holds true is if an H1B worker is here w/ no plans to apply for a GC, and wants to return to his country after a while. I actually have come across such colleagues, but they are rare. If a person wants his employer to apply for his GC, he'll at least be w/ them as long as it takes to get the GC.
Also, once one gets the GC, as you mentioned, he's as good as a citizen (just can't vote, or serve on a jury). If this process is speeded up, companies would actually have a lot less of an incentive to sponsor them, since instead of taking, say, 5 years, they would only have to be w/ the company for a year or less, making them a lot less attractive for a company to hire them in preference to local talent