I was not really aware of this program until visiting FR.
But I don't think it is limited to high - tech jobs only. I lived in an area where chick production is really big. At one time, it offered low-wage jobs for people, both black and white. It gave summer jobs to high school kids and helped them save for college. Then the illegals began coming in. This stopped the jobs for most Americans, but the blacks suffered most. People in the area began to complain about the illegals. The chicken producer bought one (or more) chicken processing facilities in Mexico. ABout 5 years later, they built a huge processing plant back in the community where I previously lived and the word was they were brining in 400 families from Mexico. I asked how was that possible and was told they were being brought in under the 'skilled worker' program. Now I will bet none of you knew that processing chickens was considered a skilled job and that no Americans were capable of doing this job. I do not actually know how the workers were brought in, I do know they were.
Now my thoughts on bringing in the high-tech foreign workers because we had no educated people - why didn't someone consider EDUCATING OUR OWN PEOPLE!! If they had to import workers, why not make it a year to year thing. How long does it take to educate someone for those jobs?
This is really the problem, our high schools are not turning out too many people who are competant in math and science, and the universities produce many engineers who are also not that good. The H1B visa bring in exceptionally good workers. In the case of my profession, software engineers from india, and believe me an indian programmer with a visa is better than an american college grad 9 times out of 10, they know more languages, more experienced, and better work ethic. I don't think this is a good thing, but quite frankly the nature of competition is to be better than your competitor not to cry foul and get the government to help whenever things don't go your way.
THIS POST MAKES ME SICK. I HAVE POSTED AND POSTED HERE ABOUT THE LACK OF DESIRE OF OUR YOUNG TO LEARN. AS A TEACHER, I HAVE ENDURED UNIMAGINEABLE ABUSE WHEN TRYING TO PUSH STUDENTS TO HIGH LEVELS. I HAVE NO SYMPATHY LEFT.
SOMETIMES, PEOPLE GET WHAT THEY DESERVE.