Its amazing how the word "H1-B" almost always triggers off a passionate debate in any setting. My position on immigrant workers is that the US should clearly favor its own citizens compared to these workers. However it seems like people have their facts grossly wrong when it comes to things like wages and H1-B.
If you've carefully followed layoff news recently, you'll observe that most of the layoffs are in finance, sales, marketing,etc. Americans usually fill these positions, because they are way better at this that most others. Immigrants have statistically been known to end up in engineering positions(cubicle prisoners:)). I don't understand why there is so much animosity towards the H1-B workers (most of whom are in engineering) when most of the layoffs are not in engineering.
Secondly, H1-B workers don't lower wages. There is a law in place to prevent exploitation and to prevent companies from low balling salaries to migrant workers. For a given level of education, there is a hard number in place which is the minimum he/she should get paid for that position (ref wikipedia).
Thirdly, life for a migrant worker isnt fun. They are constantly worried about making their life's biggest investments in things like housing, children's education,etc especially when there is constant uncertainty surrounding their ability to stay in the US. I can completely appreciate the fact that US citizens deserve priority in being hired, but lets face it, there just arent enough american engineers to fill these positions.(I'm sorry to repeat the most hackneyed/poster-child argument made by silicon valley, but its true.) You are dealing with human beings here, not inanimate objects that serve their usefulness at a time and can be thrown in the trash later. H1-B workers come to the US,pay a third of their earnings in rent (which is good for american house owners), 40% in tax(a lot of them are in silicon valley/califonia) and end up saving about a third. They pay social security and medicare and yet are not eligible to benefit from it when they need it (unless they become citizens eventually. This process takes almost 10 years).
I dont want to pepper the message board with just rhetoric (since most people seem to have an opinion on everything but no one "knows" anything) and hence will try to offer some constructive solutions.
You can start with making govt subsidy available to companies making a serious attempt at reducing outsouring and creating (possibly lower wage) american jobs (heck its better than leaving 7% of the US unemployed as is the case right now).
When it comes to H1-B, make a marked shift in quotas to favor people with american education (since they bring dollars into the education system). A US bachelors or masters receives priority over anything else. What they are doing right now is completely disregarding merit which, I think, is a huge huge mistake. The H1-B system is placing on par, people from very modest academic backgrounds on the same plane with foreign students who graduate from Americas top schools like MIT, Caltech, Stanford,etc. It is delusional to turn a blind eye to merit. That way when you funnel the access to H1-B, you'll get much better quality for the jobs you seek to fill and provide americans with an opportunity to apply to every job there is.
Lastly, Computerworld had an article on Oct 9th 2008 about fraudulent application, forged degrees, etc. Given how important this is, isnt it the govt's responsibility to set up a really serious scrutiny of applications rather than just running a lottery as it has been for the 2 years?
Indian services companies like infosys eat up huge chunks of the H1-B quota. Think about this. If you were an immigrant student who went to MIT and just graduated with a bachelors in computer science, say you landed a job in lincoln labs or NASA's JPL, your odds of getting a H1-B in the lottery are the same as those for someone with a degree in civil engineering from a low ranked school in india who decided to join infosys as a software developer (see the irony right there).
As americans would you rather have the kid from MIT work here or the other person? I dont want to take a position, but answer this to yourselves.
Peace, Love, Empathy.
Its amazing how the word "H1-B" almost always triggers off a passionate debate in any setting. My position on immigrant workers is that the US should clearly favor its own citizens compared to these workers. However it seems like people have their facts grossly wrong when it comes to things like wages and H1-B.
If you've carefully followed layoff news recently, you'll observe that most of the layoffs are in finance, sales, marketing,etc. Americans usually fill these positions, because they are way better at this that most others. Immigrants have statistically been known to end up in engineering positions(cubicle prisoners:)). I don't under why there is so much animosity towards the H1-B workers (most of whom are in engineering) when most of the layoffs are not in engineering.
Secondly, H1-B workers don't lower wages. There is a law in place to prevent exploitation and to prevent companies from low balling salaries to migrant workers. For a given level of education, there is a hard number in place which is the minimum he/she should get paid for that position (ref wikipedia).
Thirdly, life for a migrant worker isnt fun. They are constantly worried about making their life's biggest investments in things like housing, children's education,etc especially when there is constant uncertainty surrounding their ability to stay in the US. I can completely appreciate the fact that US citizens deserve priority in being hired, but lets face it, there just arent enough american engineers to fill these positions.(I'm sorry to repeat the most hackneyed/poster-child argument made by silicon valley, but its true.) You are dealing with human beings here, not inanimate objects that serve their usefulness at a time and can be thrown in the trash later. H1-B workers come to the US,pay a third of their earnings in rent (which is good for american house owners), 40% in tax(a lot of them are in silicon valley/califonia) and end up saving about a third. They pay social security and medicare and yet are not eligible to benefit from it when they need it (unless they become citizens eventually. This process takes almost 10 years).
I dont want to pepper the message board with just rhetoric (since most people seem to have an opinion on everything but no one "knows" anything) and hence will try to offer some constructive solutions.
You can start with making govt subsidy available to companies making a serious attempt at reducing outsouring and creating (possibly lower wage) american jobs (heck its better than leaving 7% of the US unemployed as is the case right now).
When it comes to H1-B, make a marked shift in quotas to favor people with american education (since they bring dollars into the education system). A US bachelors or masters receives priority over anything else. What they are doing right now is completely disregarding merit which is think is a huge huge mistake. The H1-B system is placing on par, people from very modest academic backgrounds on the same plane with foreign students who graduate from Americas top schools like MIT, Caltech, Stanford,etc. It is delusional to turn a blind eye to merit. That way when you funnel the access to H1-B, you'll get much better quality for the jobs you seek to fill and provide americans with an opportunity to apply to every job there is.
Peace, Love, Empathy.
Slashdot Mirror
Its amazing how the word "H1-B" almost always triggers off a passionate debate in any setting. My position on immigrant workers is that the US should clearly favor its own citizens compared to these workers. However it seems like people have their facts grossly wrong when it comes to things like wages and H1-B. If you've carefully followed layoff news recently, you'll observe that most of the layoffs are in finance, sales, marketing,etc. Americans usually fill these positions, because they are way better at this that most others. Immigrants have statistically been known to end up in engineering positions(cubicle prisoners :)). I don't understand why there is so much animosity towards the H1-B workers (most of whom are in engineering) when most of the layoffs are not in engineering.
Secondly, H1-B workers don't lower wages. There is a law in place to prevent exploitation and to prevent companies from low balling salaries to migrant workers. For a given level of education, there is a hard number in place which is the minimum he/she should get paid for that position (ref wikipedia).
Thirdly, life for a migrant worker isnt fun. They are constantly worried about making their life's biggest investments in things like housing, children's education,etc especially when there is constant uncertainty surrounding their ability to stay in the US. I can completely appreciate the fact that US citizens deserve priority in being hired, but lets face it, there just arent enough american engineers to fill these positions.(I'm sorry to repeat the most hackneyed/poster-child argument made by silicon valley, but its true.) You are dealing with human beings here, not inanimate objects that serve their usefulness at a time and can be thrown in the trash later. H1-B workers come to the US,pay a third of their earnings in rent (which is good for american house owners), 40% in tax(a lot of them are in silicon valley/califonia) and end up saving about a third. They pay social security and medicare and yet are not eligible to benefit from it when they need it (unless they become citizens eventually. This process takes almost 10 years).
I dont want to pepper the message board with just rhetoric (since most people seem to have an opinion on everything but no one "knows" anything) and hence will try to offer some constructive solutions.
You can start with making govt subsidy available to companies making a serious attempt at reducing outsouring and creating (possibly lower wage) american jobs (heck its better than leaving 7% of the US unemployed as is the case right now).
When it comes to H1-B, make a marked shift in quotas to favor people with american education (since they bring dollars into the education system). A US bachelors or masters receives priority over anything else. What they are doing right now is completely disregarding merit which, I think, is a huge huge mistake. The H1-B system is placing on par, people from very modest academic backgrounds on the same plane with foreign students who graduate from Americas top schools like MIT, Caltech, Stanford,etc. It is delusional to turn a blind eye to merit. That way when you funnel the access to H1-B, you'll get much better quality for the jobs you seek to fill and provide americans with an opportunity to apply to every job there is.
Lastly, Computerworld had an article on Oct 9th 2008 about fraudulent application, forged degrees, etc. Given how important this is, isnt it the govt's responsibility to set up a really serious scrutiny of applications rather than just running a lottery as it has been for the 2 years?
Indian services companies like infosys eat up huge chunks of the H1-B quota. Think about this. If you were an immigrant student who went to MIT and just graduated with a bachelors in computer science, say you landed a job in lincoln labs or NASA's JPL, your odds of getting a H1-B in the lottery are the same as those for someone with a degree in civil engineering from a low ranked school in india who decided to join infosys as a software developer (see the irony right there).
As americans would you rather have the kid from MIT work here or the other person? I dont want to take a position, but answer this to yourselves.
Peace, Love, Empathy.
Its amazing how the word "H1-B" almost always triggers off a passionate debate in any setting. My position on immigrant workers is that the US should clearly favor its own citizens compared to these workers. However it seems like people have their facts grossly wrong when it comes to things like wages and H1-B. If you've carefully followed layoff news recently, you'll observe that most of the layoffs are in finance, sales, marketing,etc. Americans usually fill these positions, because they are way better at this that most others. Immigrants have statistically been known to end up in engineering positions(cubicle prisoners :)). I don't under why there is so much animosity towards the H1-B workers (most of whom are in engineering) when most of the layoffs are not in engineering.
Secondly, H1-B workers don't lower wages. There is a law in place to prevent exploitation and to prevent companies from low balling salaries to migrant workers. For a given level of education, there is a hard number in place which is the minimum he/she should get paid for that position (ref wikipedia).
Thirdly, life for a migrant worker isnt fun. They are constantly worried about making their life's biggest investments in things like housing, children's education,etc especially when there is constant uncertainty surrounding their ability to stay in the US. I can completely appreciate the fact that US citizens deserve priority in being hired, but lets face it, there just arent enough american engineers to fill these positions.(I'm sorry to repeat the most hackneyed/poster-child argument made by silicon valley, but its true.) You are dealing with human beings here, not inanimate objects that serve their usefulness at a time and can be thrown in the trash later. H1-B workers come to the US,pay a third of their earnings in rent (which is good for american house owners), 40% in tax(a lot of them are in silicon valley/califonia) and end up saving about a third. They pay social security and medicare and yet are not eligible to benefit from it when they need it (unless they become citizens eventually. This process takes almost 10 years).
I dont want to pepper the message board with just rhetoric (since most people seem to have an opinion on everything but no one "knows" anything) and hence will try to offer some constructive solutions.
You can start with making govt subsidy available to companies making a serious attempt at reducing outsouring and creating (possibly lower wage) american jobs (heck its better than leaving 7% of the US unemployed as is the case right now).
When it comes to H1-B, make a marked shift in quotas to favor people with american education (since they bring dollars into the education system). A US bachelors or masters receives priority over anything else. What they are doing right now is completely disregarding merit which is think is a huge huge mistake. The H1-B system is placing on par, people from very modest academic backgrounds on the same plane with foreign students who graduate from Americas top schools like MIT, Caltech, Stanford,etc. It is delusional to turn a blind eye to merit. That way when you funnel the access to H1-B, you'll get much better quality for the jobs you seek to fill and provide americans with an opportunity to apply to every job there is.
Peace, Love, Empathy.