Cheers!
If you include cost as part of that qualification, then I don’t see a big problem with it. I’ve worked contracts with some of the top H1-B companies (like Microsoft), and seen the use of foreign workers here.
And I’ve worked contract with large companies who overseas much of their design operations (like Dell) to lower cost as well.
Price is ALWAYS a concern, and every company would be smart to take it into consideration. But it’s just one factor! In my own industry, EVERY factory AND client I work with already has transducer design engineers (which is what I do). I am not the cheapest, either; my hourly rate is probably the highest you’ll find in this field, and I require royalties on every product sold. I am expensive.
Why am I hired, though? Because I provide the best value to the client. The project is done ahead of schedule, hits all operational goals, and I make sure it gets built and get built right. Rarely is there a revision required because of a design issue (cosmetics and marketing are always changing); a second revision because of engineering issues doesn’t happen.
I provide value - high quality, very fast, and very thorough engineering. And I provide support - I go to the factories to make sure product is built correctly. My team inspects the factories regularly, inspects the suppliers, confirms the quality of the parts independently.
That’s the value. That’s what I offer that no one else does. And that’s why companies hire me, the American at the extremely high cost up-front, and the back-loaded deal as well.
Americans can make sure they’re qualified in ALL aspects if we use all our brains. Why is Honda making cars in Ohio, rather than Japan, Mexico, or China? Because it’s CHEAPER. Not just shipping costs, but the skills you get from the Ohio worker! Cut out the UAW and the total cost (factoring in errors and speed) and while the Ohio worker is paid a much higher hourly salary, they are a better value.
The American worker needs to realize that NO ONE is guaranteed a job. You have the right to the pursuit of happiness; you have NO right to be happy! It is a global economy because technology makes it so (it is pretty low cost to ship products around the world). We have to compete globally.
Companies pay for value; they will buy the most for the lowest total cost of acquisition/ownership. That is the American worker if they will prove it.
I fear, though, that we are raising generations of expectant dependents with no initiative, who would prefer to whine and moan and ask the Government to protect and feed them rather than knuckle down and outright compete like our grandparents and great grandparents did.
The American spirit and the cultural advantage we had (innovation, the can-do attitude, optimism) are being bred out of us, and that is why we’re starting to lose our value. That which made the American worker so prized is being destroyed.