I’ll have to do some research on the H1B salary differential, and I guess I’ll concede in part that the H1B program is not truly free market. I think I understand the point that we have foreigners who view coming to America as sort of an in-kind contribution (in actuality it’s an in-kind contribution from the taxpayers, not the firm), and this distorts the labor markets.Could you clarify what you mean by an "in-kind contribution"? I know what an in-kind contribution is, just not in this context.
I mean that the benefits that h1-b holders get from living in America (better roads, better hospitals, better schools for children etc.) are from the government (taxpayers). However, since the employers are sponsoring the h1-b holders, they are the ones essentially offering these benefits to the employee and they have the ability, via stripping the h1-b holder of his work authorization, to take these benefits away.
I hope I’m being a bit more clear.