The Immigrant Gap

Wall Street Journal ^ | 1 April 2008 | MATTHEW J. SLAUGHTER

[shrinkermd]

...ated in 1990, H1-B visas allow companies to sponsor highly educated foreigners -- architects, doctors, engineers, scientists among them -- to work in the United States for at least three years. The H1-B program, which accounts for nearly all skilled immigrants admitted to work here each year, is capped annually at 65,000 for people with a bachelor's degree or higher, plus an additional 20,000 for those with a master's degree or higher.

Skilled immigrants have long contributed to rising U.S. standards of living. They bring human capital, brimming with ideas for new technologies and new companies. They bring financial capital as well, with savings and resources to develop these new ideas. And they often bring connections to business opportunities abroad, stimulating exports and affiliate sales for multinational companies.

One of the most innovative and productive sectors of the U.S. economy, which accounts for more than half of the economy-wide productivity acceleration since 1995, is information technology. At the end of the 1990s, 24% of all IT firms in Silicon Valley had been founded by immigrants from China or India.

Is this enough supply to meet market demand? Not even close. Last year, by the afternoon of the first day petitions were accepted, more than 150,000 had been filed. So USCIS rejected all petitions received after close of business the next day, and then allocated the 85,000 visas via random lottery. USCIS is forecasting a similar crush today for 2009 petitions

[DustyMoment]

Perhaps we should begin importing foreign help to do the work Jorge Bush and the chair-moisteners in congress are too lazy to do.

Frankly, rather than IMPORTING mpre immigrants, let's just EXPORT Jorge's/Congress' jobs to someone in India reading scripts on a computer monitor.

[E. Cartman]

OR it could be that the US companies want to undermine the US middle class, having sucked all the cash out of them that can be managed: and the companies are trying to foster a replacement middle class in the "developing" (and younger!) countries, in order to replace the aging baby boomers as key consumers.

But you have to admit, it's ironic that it's our business "elites" that are making this country ripe for socialism.

[mbj]

> When defining a job meant defining it in such specific terms
> that it is seemingly tailored for only one or two specific
> persons ?

Truth.

Also, some American companies make no effort at all to train their own employees when the industry re-tools. And some American companies have versionitis [SIC]: where they will only hire someone that knows a specific version when the overall principles remain the same.

Like you, I believe H1B visas in the software industry at least, are systematically abused.

[trane250]

We throw a gigantic sum of money (local, state and federal) at the educational establishment and we don't turn out local graduates with the skills that our remnant industries need to compete in the new economy/new world order? What's going on?

[bioqubit]

When I stop seeing American companies laying off 40+ year old engineers and computer scientists in favor of foreign or younger workers, then I’ll be in favor of opening up the H1B visa program.
The entire article neatly refuted in ONE sentence.

Consider yourself highly commendedTM, sir!

Cheers!

---

ultra dittos, ping and btttp...

Moreover, it is so TOTALLY insulting to suggest Americans are not creative, not brimming over with ideas, or otherwise lacking in skills or talent.

By whatever means, the bad actors, the major technology companies, in this drama need more than a kick in the teeth. They need to be hung by their balls for screwing our own best and brightest while buying the cheap “talent” from overseas.

[grey_whiskers]

The money is thrown at the "womyn's studies" and "GLBTQ" (gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgendered-questionable) and "Ethnic Grievance" (Jeremiah Wright) and Ward Churchill programs, not at Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Engineering.

Which is just as well, since the powers that be have moved all of the technical jobs to the Third World anyway in order to rake in enough $$ from the short-term savings to move up the scale at The Emperor's Club from Kristin (Three Diamonds) to Maya (Six or Seven Diamonds).

In the meantime, Dell, who helped pioneer this crap, is having to cut thousands of US jobs since nobody wants their non-quality-tested, commoditized crap backed by arrogant tech support who cannot speak English anymore.

Is the long-overdue flight to quality coming?

Cheers!

[TypeZoNegative]

The reason why is our kids aren’t taught how to think or how to compete, but rather, they’re taught “how to feel good” about themselves.

[central_va]

There is no Immigrant gap, just a wage gap.

These heroic “Captains of Industry” understand the laws of supply and demand except when it comes to prevailing wages, then they “cheat” and undercut the American middle class by importing H1b wage slaves. Some system we got here. Only in America(And I mean that, this CAN ONLY HAPPEN in America).

[cinives]

Agreed. It wasn’t that way in prior decades - thru the late 90s companies had respect for their skilled personnel and would understand that thinking skills are more rare than specific language skills.

Now, thinking skills are expendable. And they wonder why intelligent people don’t want to spend the time getting degrees in computer science and engineering when you will be out on your ass by age 40 or so.

I have seen way too much of this in the industry to not know it’s true for almost all large American companies managed by MBA graduates.