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Jesse Jackson: H1B Visas Hold Back Diversity in Tech Hiring

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Re: Jesse Jackson: H1B Visas Hold Back Diversity in Tech Hiring

#11

Post by surfallday »

vsskanth wrote: post #10

Every time you file an H1B Visa, you pay something called a ACWIA Fee (“American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act of 1998”). For employers who have between 1-25 full-time workers, the American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act fee is $750. For employers with 26 or more full-time employees, the fee is $1,500. [1] This fee was established to fund training and education programs administered by…

>>It would be useful if he could find out where that money went and why isn't it being used to provide scholarships and training to disadvantaged students.

100%

Re: Jesse Jackson: H1B Visas Hold Back Diversity in Tech Hiring

#12

Post by rjkennedy98 »

tuna-piano wrote: post #6

How don't H1B workers provide diversity? These are people from across the world who generally have such different backgrounds and experiences from a group of native-born Americans. I assume he's talking about diversity of skin color, which seems so shallow to me it's hardly worthy of a response. Not to mention - is there a university out there that isn't actively trying to recruit skin color diversity? Is there a lar…

Diversity at our company has an explicit definition. It means women, plus latino and blacks of any gender (including mixed race with a parent of such a background). That is probably not what people think of as diversity in a broad sense, but it is likely what most universities and corporations mean. And black here does not mean African-American, it means someone with African ancestry.

Re: Jesse Jackson: H1B Visas Hold Back Diversity in Tech Hiring

#13

Post by commandlinefan »

rjkennedy98 wrote: post #12
tuna-piano wrote: post #6

How don't H1B workers provide diversity? These are people from across the world who generally have such different backgrounds and experiences from a group of native-born Americans. I assume he's talking about diversity of skin color, which seems so shallow to me it's hardly worthy of a response. Not to mention - is there a university out there that isn't actively trying to recruit skin color diversity? Is there a lar…

Diversity at our company has an explicit definition. It means women, plus latino and blacks of any gender (including mixed race with a parent of such a background). That is probably not what people think of as diversity in a broad sense, but it is likely what most universities and corporations mean. And black here does not mean African-American, it means someone with African ancestry.

They usually qualify diversity as "under-represented minorities". You have to be both a minority in the classic sense as well as under-represented.

Re: Jesse Jackson: H1B Visas Hold Back Diversity in Tech Hiring

#15

Post by ikeyany »

mywittyname wrote: post #5

I don't buy it. Asians dominate technology jobs because they dominate college enrollment in science, engineering and CS. To compound this problem, socioeconomic factors also work in their favor as well, since Asians have the highest overall median household income (by a healthy margin). More diversity in tech starts with more diversity in college programs, which probably starts in high school when students are decidi…

When colleges admit non-traditional students, people complain that "they're taking up all of the spots of the Asian students who deserve it".

It's a common complaint on HN.

Re: Jesse Jackson: H1B Visas Hold Back Diversity in Tech Hiring

#18

Post by Barrin92 »

This has been an argument not just made about tech but also other sectors, usually with a nationalist bend, for example Mexican immigrants taking industrial jobs from domestic minorities, and so on.

Many things wrong with this (including an odd definition of diversity that excludes nationality, culture, language and so on), but I'd want to stress one thing in particular.

In contrast to ivy league college admissions, the private sector is not a zero sum game. It is not a game of musical chairs. Immigrants coming to join any given economy aren't just occupying jobs, they're creating new jobs, both indirectly and directly. Indirectly of course by contributing to the overall wealth by creating value and creating demand, but also disproportionately(!) by becoming entrepreneurs.

The rate of entrepreneurship among immigrants particularly in the US is very high. A significant amount of the companies providing the jobs that Mr Jackson is talking about have been created, or are being led by immigrant executives or founders.

Re: Jesse Jackson: H1B Visas Hold Back Diversity in Tech Hiring

#19

Post by SpicyLemonZest »

nickff wrote: post #3

Aren't people from other countries more likely to be diverse in terms of education, worldview, language, technical background, and even race than American-born people? I understand that H1B visas may depress the wages of skilled Americans, perhaps with a disproportionately negative impact on some minorities, but that's not quite the same as 'holding back diversity'.

"Diversity" is one of those terms that have diverged from its etymological roots. In modern American usage, an organization has diversity if it has lots of people who are diverse, and a person is diverse if they're black, Hispanic, or female. When someone wants to talk about other kinds of diversity, they'll say something like "let's find people who speak other languages" or "let's welcome people from nontraditional backgrounds" to avoid confusion.

Re: Jesse Jackson: H1B Visas Hold Back Diversity in Tech Hiring

#20

Post by taneq »

nickff wrote: post #3

Aren't people from other countries more likely to be diverse in terms of education, worldview, language, technical background, and even race than American-born people? I understand that H1B visas may depress the wages of skilled Americans, perhaps with a disproportionately negative impact on some minorities, but that's not quite the same as 'holding back diversity'.

In this context 'diversity' actually means 'people of a protected class'. I've seen people refer to a team of 10 African-American women as '100% diverse'.
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