H1-B visas are supposed to be for especially skilled foreign workers. How many mathematicians or nuclear physicists does Florida need to rebuild or reroof buildings after the hurricane?
I expect that one problem with the H1-B program is that many companies are using it to bring in lower level less skilled people instead of limiting it to the cream of the crop. Too many Bombay tech school graduates designing web pages and not enough nuclear physicists are coming in and the government isn't doing any evaluation or screening - just approving the first 65,000 applications.
My bet is dat the gubment need to hire more skilled folks rather than those who can count to 65,000.
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.
Boy howdy! At my company when one of our "skilled" Indian employees has a problem they get in a huddle of five or six Indians and try to save their buddy. If an American worker has a problem and doesn't solve it on the spot he's told he needs to improve his skills or leave. We aren't even allowed to talk about the problems resulting from our foreign employees. The management has bet on a horse and dammit, that horse is going to win no matter what.