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Silicon Valley Is Using H-1B Visas to Pay Low Wages to Immigrants

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Re: Silicon Valley Is Using H-1B Visas to Pay Low Wages to Immigrants

#71

Post by Chris2048 »

Ceezy wrote: post #49

I'm glad that here the comments section is not full of Trump trolls like it is in huffingtonpost. First it's true that HB1 visa holder are not free agent and can't contest for the best wages. But I trully don't understand how can ANYBODY say that, tech in general is NOT in shortage of ingineers. Median wage in SF for dev is around 110 000. But even outside SF buble it's around 70 000$. With no downward pressure, How…

> ingineers

Is this an indian pun?

In any case:

> How can you complain that foreign worker is taking your job?

maybe you can't, but this is a straw-man; you can complain your wages are lower than they should be.

No one in the Techtopus scandal was likely 'low' page, but it was still wage theft.

Re: Silicon Valley Is Using H-1B Visas to Pay Low Wages to Immigrants

#72

Post by muninn_ »

winter_blue wrote: post #66
shard972 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, it's not like your people are being forced to use and buy products from these companies. So why should the US be forced to take in workers from other countries?

> why should the US be forced You've got it backwards. Nobody is forcing the US to take anyone. Instead, employers in the US are instead being forced to hire native workers, and are effectively being prohibited from hiring from the rest of the world. It's this prohibition that needs to be defended. I'm an employer, and I want to hire a French software developer. I'm willing to pay him $160,000 a year. But now, immigr…

I'll be concise here: you can hire an American. There are plenty of people who can do that job living in New York City.

Re: Silicon Valley Is Using H-1B Visas to Pay Low Wages to Immigrants

#73

Post by dukeluke »

lazaroclapp wrote: post #46
TheBobinator wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem there is the propensity for foreigners, well-educated in the back-assward ways of their country of origin, to come to America, ostensibly to partake in our, in some way measurably superior economy and culture, then expect to introduce their back-asswards ways here and expect those ways to be successful, then when they find out we think their entire country is as back-asswards as they are and refuse to put…

Admittedly, I don't think there is anything I could reply that will change such a radicalized worldview. But I am going to state three facts: a) my grandfather immigrated from the U.S. to Mexico, brought the best of his ways with him and adopted the best of ours and was quite successful with that (as are many that make the opposite trip), he ran to Mexico after spending 4 years of so in the U.S. navy at war with peop…

The comment above is flagged so I am unable to understand what they said, but the effect of culture on a society is underrated in my opinion. There is kind of a widespread opinion that all of the advancement of white people is due to racism, yet ignore the fact that Asian Americans have a higher average income and net worth than whites. People of Jewish heritage make up a very small percentage of the population, yet make up a large percentage of the Nobel prize holders. I'm not saying differences are completely because of differences in culture; racism definitely exists. But I wonder what kind of effect that culture truly has on a population.

Re: Silicon Valley Is Using H-1B Visas to Pay Low Wages to Immigrants

#74

Post by rodionos »

The numbers you're seeing maybe somewhat inflated because of how the average salary is calculated for this report:

  Sometimes the visa sponsors(employers) does not enter a specific salary, but a salary range. 
  Our algorithm uses the middle point of the range to calculate the average salary.

Re: Silicon Valley Is Using H-1B Visas to Pay Low Wages to Immigrants

#75

Post by euyyn »

amykhar wrote: post #61
alextheparrot wrote: post #59

Does anyone else consider immigration a significant part of US foreign policy? Wouldn't offering visas to "rising" countries allow us to pick off much of their best talent, thus boosting the US and lowering the other countries? The global power struggles of today, I believe, will be won by countries who can dictate the technology that refocuses which resources are needed.

That's fine if you're not hurting your current citizens. Pick off those talented people at a proper wage. Companies aren't seeking talent that American engineers don't have. They're seeking cheap labor.

> Companies aren't seeking talent that American engineers don't have. They're seeking cheap labor.

Some companies are seeking cheap labor. Others are seeking talent that American engineers don't have (except the ones they do hire).

Re: Silicon Valley Is Using H-1B Visas to Pay Low Wages to Immigrants

#76

Post by unprepare »

kelnos wrote: post #45
stupidcar wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're ignoring the fact the US already produces a surplus of skilled and qualified STEM professionals. Freedom of labor movement is a nice–to–have, but not some ideological priority that must be placed above all other considerations. The size of the pool of human capital is irrelevant if there simply aren't enough jobs on offer. The government of a country should be first and foremost advocates for, and protectors o…

> You're ignoring the fact the US already produces a surplus of skilled and qualified STEM professionals. That may be true, but we're hardly a homogeneous group. There certainly isn't a surplus of skilled and qualified professionals from my subgroup of STEM. And I suspect that's the one where most H-1B visa holders end up in. Not saying the system isn't abused: oh sweet jesus, it most certainly is. But throwing it ou…

> Why are they unable to find a job?

>Are they less skilled and capable than a foreign worker? If so, then the foreign worker should get the job

Are you under the impression that organizations when hiring are looking to maximize skill and disregard all other factors?

once you reach 'good enough' skill level, its a cost minimization game.

If the American costs twice as much, but the foreign worker is good enough - who should get the job?

Re: Silicon Valley Is Using H-1B Visas to Pay Low Wages to Immigrants

#77

Post by krzyk »

muninn_ wrote: post #72
winter_blue wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> why should the US be forced You've got it backwards. Nobody is forcing the US to take anyone. Instead, employers in the US are instead being forced to hire native workers, and are effectively being prohibited from hiring from the rest of the world. It's this prohibition that needs to be defended. I'm an employer, and I want to hire a French software developer. I'm willing to pay him $160,000 a year. But now, immigr…

I'll be concise here: you can hire an American. There are plenty of people who can do that job living in New York City.

Why hire someone new and train him when you have a guy that doesn't need training.

Re: Silicon Valley Is Using H-1B Visas to Pay Low Wages to Immigrants

#78

Post by AlgorithmicTime »

winter_blue wrote: post #66
shard972 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, it's not like your people are being forced to use and buy products from these companies. So why should the US be forced to take in workers from other countries?

> why should the US be forced You've got it backwards. Nobody is forcing the US to take anyone. Instead, employers in the US are instead being forced to hire native workers, and are effectively being prohibited from hiring from the rest of the world. It's this prohibition that needs to be defended. I'm an employer, and I want to hire a French software developer. I'm willing to pay him $160,000 a year. But now, immigr…

Just hire an American. There are people in the NYC area who can do that job at $160k.

Re: Silicon Valley Is Using H-1B Visas to Pay Low Wages to Immigrants

#79

Post by AlgorithmicTime »

danenania wrote: post #24
stupidcar wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're ignoring the fact the US already produces a surplus of skilled and qualified STEM professionals. Freedom of labor movement is a nice–to–have, but not some ideological priority that must be placed above all other considerations. The size of the pool of human capital is irrelevant if there simply aren't enough jobs on offer. The government of a country should be first and foremost advocates for, and protectors o…

Why are people born inside the imaginary lines of my country more important to help than those born outside of it? Someone from Bangladesh or Mexico is not a fellow citizen of my country, but they are a fellow citizen of my world. Why should the smaller and more arbitrary geographical division come first? You can talk about culture, but I'm sure I have more in common culturally with a phd student or entrepreneur in D…

I'll accept that argument when every country adopts American values and expectations. Until then, nope.

Re: Silicon Valley Is Using H-1B Visas to Pay Low Wages to Immigrants

#80

Post by rodionos »

lazaroclapp wrote: post #11

The problem with suggesting that the salary bar be set at the median of the lifetime salary, is that it does mean closing the door to current international students in the U.S., and to recent graduates recruited from universities abroad. The minimum bar for an immigrant should not be that they are better than half the people already employed here in their field, regardless of their stage in life. And, of course, most…

One thing to keep in mind is that unlike O-1, EB-1 is an immigrant visa. It's for people who are set on relocating to the US and eventually become US citizens.

The O-1 visas have been growing too, particularly issued to UK nationals: https://apps.axibase.com/chartlab/1bc51064/4/

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