21–30 of 118 posts
There is legit use of H-1B, which helps make America the leader in tech. Top tech companies like Google, Microsoft, Apple and Amazon would not be top tech companies without this immigration. Then there are abusers... for example back in 2016 Disney hired a bunch of H-1B workers and immediately laid off American workers, and then required those American workers to train their H-1B replacements. The abuse must be stopp…
There is legit use of H-1B, which helps make America the leader in tech. Top tech companies like Google, Microsoft, Apple and Amazon would not be top tech companies without this immigration. Then there are abusers... for example back in 2016 Disney hired a bunch of H-1B workers and immediately laid off American workers, and then required those American workers to train their H-1B replacements. The abuse must be stopp…
I'd argue, that just like with inventions, software has at least 100 people working on the same thing at the same time, who gets their first is what matters. Google et al would still be the same behemoths with or without H1Bs.
Let's see who is telling the truth. Back in 1990s, a decent salary for a fresh graduate, at a top company like Sun Microsystems was $40,000. RSUs were unknown back then, and certainly fresh graduates didn't get any! If you adjust for inflation $40K in 1990 translates to $99K in 2024. Today a fresh graduate can get a $120K offer at a top company, and another $10K to $50K in RSUs. Do you see any evidence of wage depression?
It does look like these tech companies are NOT importing workers to depress wages!
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there is very little legit use of H1B, the tech companies are abusing it by not hiring US employees in lieu of getting underpaid H1B’s who have no option to leave for a better opportunity or higher pay (or to unionize) - modern day white collar “slavery”
The customer (companies) don’t think the price for US employees is a good deal and prefer to find a cheaper option that can’t quit as easily. In market terms, H1B workers are simply a better product - slightly cheaper (because companies can game the system) and more predictable (because they can’t show the employer the middle finger).
I’d call it something more along the lines of “regulatory capture” than a freely operating market.
We should be wary billionaires are controlling these policies.
Bernie Sanders did this interview a decade ago and he was right, unchecked immigration is not in the economic interest of the working class.
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there is very little legit use of H1B, the tech companies are abusing it by not hiring US employees in lieu of getting underpaid H1B’s who have no option to leave for a better opportunity or higher pay (or to unionize) - modern day white collar “slavery”
Here are the folks who contributed to the "Attention is all you need" paper [1] which changed the world as we know it, and the countries they came from. I rest my case. Ashish Vaswani: India Noam Shazeer: USA Niki Parmar: India Jakob Uszkoreit: Germany Llion Jones: USA Aidan Gomez: British Canadian Lukasz Kaiser: Poland Illia Polosukhin: Ukraine [1] https://arxiv.org/abs/1706.03762
Another country invested 20 years to train a 130 IQ person from birth to tertiary educated.
And then the US gets to skim the top 0.1% off that expensive process without paying a dime.
These immigrants then generate consumption, scientific discoveries and found companies in their prime working years, which boosts the local country's power, economy, job opportunities and prosperity. They take 1 job but create 2, but the 2 is hidden behind layers of indirection (scientific discoveries, consumption, etc) so dumb people can't see the positive sum reality for what it is.
Anti-immigrant sentiment is a profound misunderstanding of the global value that these immigrants create, even if they locally compete for a specific job.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lump_of_labour_fallacy
There's a reason Eastern Europe and East Asia are struggling. There's a reason China and South Korea have probably peaked. There's a reason Hungary will continue to be a shit place to live. It isn't because of too much immigration. It's because of too little.
The US, since its founding, has been a country of immigrants. It's a necessary condition behind its prosperity and strength.
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I'd argue, that just like with inventions, software has at least 100 people working on the same thing at the same time, who gets their first is what matters. Google et al would still be the same behemoths with or without H1Bs.
Companies such as Google and Apple say they need immigrants because there aren't enough qualified workers in the US. Opponents say immigrants are depressing wages; these companies are only importing these workers in order to depress wages! Let's see who is telling the truth. Back in 1990s, a decent salary for a fresh graduate, at a top company like Sun Microsystems was $40,000. RSUs were unknown back then, and certai…
> because there aren't enough qualified workers in the US
It's often not a shortage of skills but a shortage of pay.
Companies can also invest in growing local talent. There are tons of STEM graduates who cannot find jobs — because why hire a junior when there's a supply of Indian H-1B labor from shady consultancies, who won't complain or negotiate due to the constant threat of deportation?
What needs to be done is to end the exploitative aspect of H1B visas. Recipients should have a direct, unconditional pathway to residency, independent of their employer's goodwill. It shouldn't be a modern slavery.
Also, stop immigration fraud to prevent these visas from being used solely for cost-cutting and replacing local labor. Raise the minimum wage for H1B, introduce additional taxes — or just auction visas off, granting them to the highest bidder. So only the top talent would get them.
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Companies such as Google and Apple say they need immigrants because there aren't enough qualified workers in the US. Opponents say immigrants are depressing wages; these companies are only importing these workers in order to depress wages! Let's see who is telling the truth. Back in 1990s, a decent salary for a fresh graduate, at a top company like Sun Microsystems was $40,000. RSUs were unknown back then, and certai…
This argument doesn't hold because you don't know how much an average American SWE would be making today if there were no H1Bs — it could be $200k. > because there aren't enough qualified workers in the US It's often not a shortage of skills but a shortage of pay. Companies can also invest in growing local talent. There are tons of STEM graduates who cannot find jobs — because why hire a junior when there's a supply…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This argument doesn't hold because you don't know how much an average American SWE would be making today if there were no H1Bs — it could be $200k. > because there aren't enough qualified workers in the US It's often not a shortage of skills but a shortage of pay. Companies can also invest in growing local talent. There are tons of STEM graduates who cannot find jobs — because why hire a junior when there's a supply…
If the wages are rising that means demand is greater than supply. Tech companies are telling the truth when they say there is a shortage of workers.
For American workers, it is better to let wages rise than to import foreign labor (which would ultimately suppress wage growth).
Therefore, importing labor does suppress wages — as you've essentially demonstrated yourself.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If the wages are rising that means demand is greater than supply. Tech companies are telling the truth when they say there is a shortage of workers.
Yes, and you can fulfill this growing demand by raising wages, which is essentially the market mechanism to bring in additional supply. Another way to address this is by importing cheaper labor from abroad. For American workers, it is better to let wages rise than to import foreign labor (which would ultimately suppress wage growth). Therefore, importing labor does suppress wages — as you've essentially demonstrated…