Posted on 10/02/2012 7:20:23 AM PDT by knittnmom
WASHINGTON -- With the recession hit in 2008, Congress put the idea of a "skills shortage" and a need for more H-1B visas in a closet.
That didn't mean, though, that interest in raising the H-1B cap went away for everyone.
New York City Mayor Bloomberg, for instance, last year called the limits on both temporary and permanent employment-based immigration a "form of national suicide."
Microsoft has long advocated for more work visas. But the company's advocacy was quieted during the recession as well, as it announced in 2009 a layoff of 5,000 workers.
Circumstances at Microsoft have since changed for the better.
Microsoft said Thursday that it has some 6,000 open positions in the U.S., and is creating new jobs faster than it can fill them. The company is now using its own workforce needs to make a case for a new type of H-1B visa as well as a permanent employment visa.
(Excerpt) Read more at networkworld.com ...
It doesn't just affect Microsoft employees, it hits the entire tech industry.
FUBG.
And for the record, I know that Bill Gates no longer runs the company but he did this crap in the 1990s and has the balls to say that I'M not paying enough in taxes. He also has come out in FAVOR of death panels.
Screw Million Dollar Marxists.
The fat cats who are demanding lower wages for workers are making a hellf*** more than 6 figures in their BONUS CHECKS alone.
Train them for the trade because its a better investment ya think?
And what happens when they leave the company for a better job after they get trained? If training is a better investment then why do you think companies don’t do it? Because it never occurred to them?
Training is the job of schools. Companies have products to make and stuff to deliver to customers. Look at it from beyond the prism of H-1B, Indian or American engineer. Fact is there is huge surplus of engineers from overseas. They are cheap, they are available and they fulfill the minimum skill level requirement. Companies face a choice, either THEY utilize those resources or their competitors will. And the choice is very clear.
Secondly I highly doubt an unemployed “middle-aged, white software veterans” would pass up a job offer only because he has to work 70 hours a week for less wage... unless of course he is having too much fun sitting on his butt collecting unemployment.
For most “middle-aged,software veterans” there might be a bit of a skill gap. The world have kinda moved far away from Cobol and Mainframe. Its always a challenge to keep up with younger blood with fresh skills in this trade.
Microsoft sucks because they hire Indians?
Who do you think Apple and Google hires? 100% all American work force?
Google:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/Technology/Google-India-to-hire-more/Article1-750461.aspx
http://www.webpronews.com/google-india-to-hire-hundreds-of-engineers-2010-11
Any sensible company would jump at the chance to get access to that pool of talent. I understand why Microsoft (and others) push for certain policies.
Any sensible national government would try to help its own citizens first, and develop domestic policies that help We The People rather than foreigners and rather than corporations. If the only policies in place are policies that help US citizens, then US companies may ask for different policies but they shouldn't get them. Through tax policies and tariffs, US companies could be discouraged from off-shoring.
If the US government works against its own citizens, then the citizens should overthrow the US government.
I know that big corporations want to call the shots, but that's not how our Constitution is written.
If you cannot find Americans to work....you are Anti-American. So tired of this Anti-American horse crap
We do not need H1-B Visa Amnesty....much less any other form of Amnesty
As for your first post. The Market Cap for MSFT is 248 Billion, Google is 247.8 Billion. So they are virtually tied. Google is gaining ground fast.
I don’t like it when any company uses the H1B program as an excuse to not hire Americans. Their are plenty of qualified Americans for these jobs. But not at the salary these companies want to PAY. They want CHEAP LABOR, and they should be called out on it. This applies to all companies.
Microsoft is in trouble because they are not an innovative company. Never was. They got ahead by using their Market Size to crush more innovative companies. (Netscape, Novell, Word Perfect, etc).
They can’t use this strategy with Apple or Google. Both companies are too big, fast and innovative for them.
Yeah the government should do something. And the companies must also spend money on training us so we can make our $100k/year that we are entitled to make. That is what the Constitution says.
/s
“So you are saying the Government should do something. And what should they do?”
1. Stay out of the business of being an H1B foreign employment agency for corporations, and let those corporations tap the pool of American workers which has more than enough unemployed engineers available.
2. Once those people are employed, allow foreign workers the chance to migrate on workers visas on an as needed basis.
I said very specifically it was a better investment for our country to invest in our own people. I said very specifically that companies who hire with your attitude in mind are doing at the expense of our country and for selfish reasons.
I see these H1-B employees get stuck in their jobs, and in crappy jobs, because they simply can’t move on easily to another company. There are legal restrictions as well as contractual restrictions. I’ve been a supervisor of H1-B employees.
To address another point, no new hires are trained by schools. That is just simply not the truth and tells me a lot about your inexperience. The best trained new/young employees are those who have interned with us for a semester or two before joining. Those coming out of school without an internship go to lower paying jobs until they prove themselves. Our company does significant training. There is no school training for our engineering positions that make employees immediately ready to produce in our company.
I’m already well aware of companies having to make a product since I’m designing products that compete with Chinese made products. I live and breathe this daily in the semiconductor industry working 12-16 hours a day. I’ve also run my own business for four years.
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