GONE IN A DAY: YEAR'S SUPPLY OF 'SKILLED' VISAS

Miami Herald ^ | Oct. 06, 2004 | Herald Staff and Wire Reports

[snopercod]

Yo hablo espanol. Y Usted?

[Xenalyte]

I know this is amazingly naive, but I'll ask it anyway.

What training do these foreign workers have that Americans cannot acquire?

In other words, what makes these foreign workers the only option employers have? Why can Americans not do the work?

I'm assuming no Americans can do the work, because if they could, the problem wouldn't exist.

[Xenalyte]

Why won't they hire me?

This also may sound naive, but why don't you ask them?

[cyborg]

I went to a job fair today and there were lots of employers looking to hire and even more looking for work. For me it's a second job and I'm already taking a CNA class where there are no Americans in the class. In fact, since the home care agency opened no American has applied. I guess taking care of old people is not glory enough for some but there are jobs out there, just not what people want half the time.

[speekinout]

Sometimes people do have to retrain. There's no market at all for people who have outdated skills - buggy whip makers, auto mechanics who specialize in carburator repair, programmers who are adept at COBOL, etc.
And sometimes people have to re-locate. Companies often relocate to where the taxes benefit the company more. For example, all of the companies that left CA.

Those of us who want to be employees rather than business owners have to adapt to what the business owners want and need.

And, BTW, I don't think that any engineering job pays just $10/hr. I think that's whining.

[SERE_DOC]

an adendum to your statement should be and work for 1/3 the pay of a US worker

[JudgemAll]

This is ridiculous. The administration should immediately lift this stupid quota. We need to draw the best and brightest here to remain competive economically. What a discrace!

No, the real disgrace is that America has become SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY BARREN AND INFERTILE BECAUSE OF PROTECTION OF LIBERALISM and SOCIALIST POLICIES of BORROWING OR TAKING OTHER PEOPLE's TALENTS.

[Liberty Tree Surgeon]

Look, people, you're all missing a big piece of the puzzle. ALl of the slots disappeared in hours because contractor/consulting firms grabbed them all up. That way, they get the cheap labor and can tack on their profit to their outsourcing clients.

This is not individual company demand.

LTS

[don'tspeak4me]

"I agree with you that there are plenty of jobs available if one is willing to work for almost nothing. What are you paying your truck drivers?"

Our employees sure don't work for "almost nothing". They are paid in the $12 to $13 range with time and a half for overtime. They pay $50 a month for health insurance, we pick up the rest. They are provided with paid vacation, monthly paperwork performance bonuses, quarterly performance and safety bonuses and Christmas bonuses. Every now and then after a busy month we give them all gift certificates in the $100 range. Last year at Thanksgiving we gave them all a $50 grocery store gift certificate. We will be starting a 401K within the next 6 months...

Nothing, huh? Maybe to some people.

[Woodman]

What you say is true. However there are many other costs to outsourcing besides wages and the current breakpoint is that you can have total compensation of about four times a an Indian/Ukrainian/etc employee before it's cheaper to outsource. There are also the productivity issues, language issues, work ethic issues, security Issues, creativity problems and many more.

My point is that there will be some "buggy whip" makers in today's world economy, but there will also be winners. I'm sure people need to be helped through the changes in the economy, I'm just not sure how much is the right amount of help.

[Libertina]

GOOD point!

[RFEngineer]

"This is such a crock. There is no demand - pent-up or otherwise - for engineers in the United States right now, and hasn't been for about fifteen years."

Like most things, depends what you do, who you do it for, and how good you are when you do it. I have more work than time.

[RFEngineer]

"I already know more than I will ever be able to use"

Check the attitude, it's probably most of your problem.

[traviskicks]

"No, the real disgrace is that America has become SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY BARREN AND INFERTILE BECAUSE OF PROTECTION OF LIBERALISM and SOCIALIST POLICIES of BORROWING OR TAKING OTHER PEOPLE's TALENTS."


Completely disagree. Free Trade is a conservative idea, not a liberal one. Free trade benefits everyone. This falls under trade: trade in ideas, trade in skills, trade in knoweledge.

[MikefromOhio]

sorry to hear about your problems....but I traveled 7000 miles for a job....


sometimes moving will expand your horizons and you never know what you will find...


giving a blanket statement about a $10 an hour job is BS....

[MTOrlando]

Completely disagree. Free Trade is a conservative idea, not a liberal one. Free trade benefits everyone. This falls under trade: trade in ideas, trade in skills, trade in knoweledge.

Free trade is not equivalent to free movement of the factors of production across international boundaries.

[primeval patriot]

We have 4 driver positions available and have been trying to fill them for over 6 months.

If twelve to thirteen dollars an hour won't attract drivers, what does that tell you?

[don'tspeak4me]

"If twelve to thirteen dollars an hour won't attract drivers, what does that tell you?"

Well, it tells me a few things. One, that in the tri-county area that I have been advertising, at any given time there are probably 15 to 20 ads of the same nature for the same type of jobs at pretty much the same pay and benefits.

Two, we are a relatively new company, so name recognition is not in our favor, yet.

Three, some people want a living, but don't want to work for it.

[traviskicks]

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_100604/content/institute.guest.html


http://www.showmenews.com/2004/Sep/20040902Busi012.asp

[politicalwit]

Actually, one of the biggest demands for H1-B's is in the healthcare field. Most major medical facilities as well as many of the rural hospitals now depend on the H1-B Registered Nurse from India or the Philipines to fill unfilled openings. Additionally, most of the rural areas now depend on the H1-B physician to meet the medical needs of the community. To assume all H1-B's go to the IT industry is a misnomer.