One of the most common and ignorant arguments against the H1B visa program, is that it steals jobs away from local America workers, particularly at a time of 9 – 10% unemployment and in the immediate aftermath of the worst recession since the great depression.
However numerous independent studies by Vivek Wadhwa and others have shown that this is not the case and the influx of these (largely) high skilled immigrant and both filled skill shortages in the US economy. This is due to the very low amount of US students who study Engineering, Science and Technology degrees in College due to the higher degree of difficult associated with these disciplines.
The net effect to the economy has been hugely positive with companies like Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Apple benefiting greatly from this high skill source of labor and their products and thus revenue benefiting the US economy as a whole.This is not even accounting for the fact that over half of all Silicon Valley start ups being founded by foreigners in recent years and the companies include the biggest and most well know brands like Google, Yahoo, eBay, Paypal, etc.
However according to the CEO of the NASDAQ Exchange, this is only the tip of the iceberg. Robert Griefeld told a US Senate hearing last week that according to the National Federation for American Policy says that for every H-1B worker requested, US technology companies increase their overall employment by five workers.
He went on to argue that “Reform must convey economic priorities about job growth and global competitiveness. Increasing H-1B visas is simply not enough. We need to admit and keep entrepreneurs here so that the creative dynamic of our economy is enhanced by the very best skills and minds,”. “Whether in Silicon Valley, Austin, Chicago, or anywhere else in the United States, I hear from CEOs that theH-1B visa system is inadequate for today’s human capital marketplace and the backlog for green cards and what they mean to the quality and the uncertainty of the lives of these foreign-born employees is a legitimate threat to their businesses.”
This is powerful language backed up by facts (rather than partisan short sighted rhetoric) coming from someone as successful and knowledgeable as Griefeld hopefully will sway enough in Congress to overhaul the current H1B Visa, L1 Visa, E3 Visa, F1 Visa OPT and Green Card process such that ultimately the US as a whole will continue to remain at the forefront of technology, new energy and the global economy.
Cj
Again with the propaganda about how the H1B creates American jobs for Americans and how stupid American workers are in math and science. First of all no jobs are created by any H1B. Where is your proof for this urban legend foisted upon Americans by the corporations who simply want cheap labor. When an American is displaced the job is gone – period.
As to point number two that you need a science degree to cut code – what a crock. Most programming is simple logic and requires zero math. Since you bring it up, lets talk about the 10+2 baccalaureate that the dummy CEOs think is a college degree.
As to the great racist Vivek W., Indians only hire other Indians. You people are racist to the core. Have you ever hireed an American or would you rather hire someone from your village or tribe/caste?
Bottom line – stop lying about creating jobs and how stupid we are. We created Silicon Valley – not Indians.
American Worker with thinking like that its no wonder in days gone by in the US we had jobs ads which said “Irish need not apply” or “Whites only”. The great thing about the modern workplaces of the US particularly in technology, people couldn’t care less where you came from, what your religion is or your gender, it is all about the ability to build the future. 7 of the top 10 largest and most respected corporate brands in America today were created by Immigrants or the child of immigrants. The interesting thing about that stat is if you go back a generation ago or a generation before that or back to the time when the largest companies in America were Vanderbilt’s Railroad companies, Rockefeller’s Standard Oil, Edison’s General Electric and Carnegie’s US Steel, the stats don’t change much in terms of immigration innovation. Sadly nor does the level of bigotry just to different nationalities.
Cj