Problem is H-1B/foreign Visa Creep.
It is not limited to IT careers anymore. Nursing and Accounting are on the block as well.
In the late 80s and 90s, I thought off-shore “job sucking sound” (as Ross Perot used to say) was reserved only for factory/autoworkers...and look where we are today...many jobs are now off shore...
Who knows, maybe law and biology will be next... :(
Law is already headed that way,
USSC Justices Breyer, Kennedy and Ginsburg and probably other justices have endorsed foreign law over Constitutional jurisprudence.
Foreign lawyers and judges are a natural extension.
Accounting has already flown the coup. You will be shocked to learn how much of accounting work is done off-shore via internet. If US salaries are higher than what outfits can off-shore then jobs in US will keep disappearing. It is how capitalism works.
What is better? Jobs sent abroad which loses income tax revenues, and money spent by workers stationed in US in the local economy goes away, buildings are downsized by employers due to less workers in US, which reduces local property taxes and building maintenance jobs (janitors, utility workers etc) —or— jobs kept in US using work visa’s.
As for nursing, they can’t off-shore nursing! So nurse’s salaries will certainly be affected if foreign nurses can come in with H1-B visa. This situation is not much different than computer programmers. If there is a surplus of cheap nurses abroad, hospitals will do everything possible to utilize that supply.
The whole thing boils down to which category of jobs the government should protect. I do not favor gov’t choosing certain jobs but not others.
Either we go full blown protectionism -or- full blown capitalism. Let the voters decide. The less bureaucrats power, the better.