Posted on 06/01/2015 9:13:59 AM PDT by ConservingFreedom
A recent study in the US by three economists – Kirk Doran of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, Alexander Gelber of the University of California, Berkeley, and Adam Isen of the office of tax analysis at the US department of the treasury – has found that H-1B visas do not lead to any significant increase in the number of patents and nor do they result in any significant job creation in America.
The findings of this study contradict many highlights of earlier reports, including one by big IT companies which was discussed at the US congress last month. According to that, every foreign-born worker in the US with a US STEM (science, technology, engineering & management) degree creates 2.62 jobs for US-born workers. It also said that every H-1B visa holder creates 1.83 jobs in the US. The recent report, The Effects of High-skilled Immigration on Firms: Evidence from H-1B Visa Lotteries, is surprisingly not causing concern to Indian IT companies, which are the largest users of H-1B visas and Indian IT professionals.
“It is an academic study. One of its authors has been doing work for years on the impact of immigration and guest workers on the labour market. I think the report will contribute to the debate. Its findings support what we know about how the H-1B programme is being used,” said Ron Hira, an immigration policy expert and associate professor of public policy at Howard University.
The backdrop to the recent debate is the US Immigration Innovation Act (I-Squared Act) which was introduced by senator Orrin Hatch in the US congress and is being promoted by the technology industry. “It would vastly expand the number of H-1Bs but includes no reforms to fix the programme from being used to replace American workers with cheaper guest workers,” said Hira. In his opinion, the Obama administration could do much more to crack down on H-1B abuse.
Immigration attorney Sheela Murthy of Maryland-based Murthy Law Firm doesn’t agree with the study on the issue of H-1B visas not leading to any significant increase in the number of patents. She is of the opinion that since many H-1B visa holders often are fresh graduates from university, it is likely that they are not ready to make a huge impact right away with patents and publications. “Most such developments occur after the candidates have been in the US for a few years,” said Murthy.
This year, too, demand for the H-1B work permit has outstripped supply with the United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) getting enough applications to reach the statutory cap of 65,000 within the first five days in April 2015, for the third consecutive year. In fact, a few years ago, the law was changed requiring the USCIS to wait for the first five business days to close the H-1B quota. It is likely that the H-1B quota was exhausted on the very first day, but the window had to keep the window open for the first five business days in April.
“The H-1B cap being raised will depend on how robust the US economy becomes,” Murthy added.
Manhattan-based immigration attorney Cyrus Mehta pointed out that foreign nationals are hired on H-1B visas in a number of critical fields, including teachers, and specialists in business and finance. “You can make contributions to the company and to the US economy as well as be a successful entrepreneur without filing patents. The study erroneously sets up an unrealistic expectation that patents will increase just because a firm hires foreign nationals on H-1B visas, and then shows that this is not happening,” said Mehta.
He said that an academic study has no bearing on ground reality. “Employers do not hire foreign nationals on H-1B visas because they wish to pay less wages.
They hire them because they have a genuine need for certain skills. At times hiring a foreign worker adds to the diversity and enriches the workplace with experiences from another country. The H-1B lottery is a cruel joke on employers and foreign national prospective employees,” Mehta added.
Is this it? "Fake Job Ads" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCbFEgFajGU
Bookmarked. I’ll take a look at it when I’m home from work and let you know if it is what I remember.
I speak from actual real world hiring.
If by limited experience, you mean over the past 2 decades in the United States
During that time what percentage of the national workforce did you hire?
When qualifications can be (and have been) warped to exclude citizens, that statement rings hollow.
That doesn’t work for everyone. It’s optimal for individuals that already have the ability to go where they please in the job market. For those that do not, the long-term model works better for providing a way to minimize uncertainty on their end. With that in mind, I see the prevalence of low stability in employment as a negative economic indicator - not as a positive quality.
The Cohen & Grigsby PERM video? It’s still up on YouTube.
As for IT, having a security clearance is rapidly becoming the path to bypass the immigration law nonsense. It’s not the most optimal path, but it offers something that is (mostly) closed to internationals.
It’s one thing to say someone’s not qualified, it’s another to design qualifications to exclude citizens entirely.
The people, setting and language look awfully familiar. Plus the fact that they noted the two major papers in the Pittsburgh Area leads me to believe this was at least an excerpt from the original. Every congress critter ought to be forced to view at least this clip.
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