Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

H-1B abuse: Bay Area tech workers from India paid a pittance, feds say

mercurynews.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 149 posts

Re: H-1B abuse: Bay Area tech workers from India paid a pittance, feds say

#131

Post by nadezhda18 »

youzicha wrote: post #37
tiff_seattle wrote: post #14

Why not just adjust the H-1B program so that the highest paid positions get priority? That way companies could still hire abroad for in-demand skills, but it would eliminate bringing people into the country to avoid paying the prevailing wages for IT workers. You could even make exceptions for academic or medical work as needed. It seems like a common sense adjustment to the program, but I don't see many people offer…

Exactly this was proposed last year in a bill with a democrat sponsor. But right now H1b is basically the only way to get hired as an immigrant. If you made it wage-prioritized there would be basically no way to get an h1b for entry level jobs, which would really suck for new graduates. http://alexyar.tumblr.com/post/156649015342/anyway-heres-the...

Also, let's not forget about TN for Canadians and Mexicans. Does not allow to immigrate but you can work w/o problems (lost too many friends to it! they moved to SF)

"The nonimmigrant NAFTA Professional (TN) visa allows citizens of Canada and Mexico, as NAFTA professionals, to work in the United States" [0]

[0] https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/employme...

Re: H-1B abuse: Bay Area tech workers from India paid a pittance, feds say

#132

Post by Trundle »

closeparen wrote: post #90
Trundle wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You contributing to supply would still suppress wages though no?

Why are people unlucky enough to be born in the wrong part of the world less entitled to "suppress wages" compared to the hordes of Americans entering the field?

Why is there no bike lane between me and work?

Re: H-1B abuse: Bay Area tech workers from India paid a pittance, feds say

#133

Post by ivan_gammel »

bduerst wrote: post #126
ivan_gammel wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This would happen if supply of workforce would be higher than the demand. Why would a company fire someone when even with immigration demand is not met?

Considering that a wage of $32k/yr puts you in the top 1% of the world, I don't think companies will have this opposite problem of no supply.

Insufficient supply is exactly the case with skilled workforce and the reason visa programs like H1B and European BlueCard exist at all. The wage auction that will close the bodyshop loopholes will shift the supply from importing the cheap workforce to importing more skilled people and there, in the higher salary ranges, it may depress wages a bit.

But, frankly speaking, I would not care about a dev who earns $150k in some tech company in the Valley if his salary will be closer to $80-$100k because of the free market. Those money could be better invested or spent on taxes.

Re: H-1B abuse: Bay Area tech workers from India paid a pittance, feds say

#134

Post by sctb »

greatamerican wrote: post #2

H-1B needs to be ended. No more wage-suppression handouts to multi-billion dollar companies. Google and the rest of these companies can pay either pay more, or train more CITIZENS.

This account has been breaking a lot of the guidelines. Could you please re-read them?

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: H-1B abuse: Bay Area tech workers from India paid a pittance, feds say

#135

Post by setum »

tiff_seattle wrote: post #14

Why not just adjust the H-1B program so that the highest paid positions get priority? That way companies could still hire abroad for in-demand skills, but it would eliminate bringing people into the country to avoid paying the prevailing wages for IT workers. You could even make exceptions for academic or medical work as needed. It seems like a common sense adjustment to the program, but I don't see many people offer…

Salaries vary not just on individual skill and talent but also on the city of the job. This will make all the H1 jobs go to Bay Area, may be some to NYC, LA & Boston too. But primarily Bay Area.

Re: H-1B abuse: Bay Area tech workers from India paid a pittance, feds say

#136

Post by BLanen »

tiff_seattle wrote: post #14

Why not just adjust the H-1B program so that the highest paid positions get priority? That way companies could still hire abroad for in-demand skills, but it would eliminate bringing people into the country to avoid paying the prevailing wages for IT workers. You could even make exceptions for academic or medical work as needed. It seems like a common sense adjustment to the program, but I don't see many people offer…

Would mean that companies in NY & CA get preference.

How could a company in Ohio compete?

Would have to adjust to living expenses of the location. But, as far a I know, H1B visas aren't tied to a location.

Re: H-1B abuse: Bay Area tech workers from India paid a pittance, feds say

#137

Post by bduerst »

ivan_gammel wrote: post #133
bduerst wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering that a wage of $32k/yr puts you in the top 1% of the world, I don't think companies will have this opposite problem of no supply.

Insufficient supply is exactly the case with skilled workforce and the reason visa programs like H1B and European BlueCard exist at all. The wage auction that will close the bodyshop loopholes will shift the supply from importing the cheap workforce to importing more skilled people and there, in the higher salary ranges, it may depress wages a bit. But, frankly speaking, I would not care about a dev who earns $150k i…

Insufficient local supply is why the programs exist, not international supply. If international supply was insufficient then the programs wouldn't exist.

Re: H-1B abuse: Bay Area tech workers from India paid a pittance, feds say

#138

Post by dang »

baruchthescribe wrote: post #21
vkou wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess I should just not work for a living, then. I'm hoping that people making such an observation have native American ancestry.

Sure you can. But you have to go back first.

Normally we'd ban a new account for posting this way. Fortunately your previous comment was a fine one for HN, so we won't do that this time. But if you'd please read https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and follow the rules when commenting here, we'd appreciate it.

Re: H-1B abuse: Bay Area tech workers from India paid a pittance, feds say

#139

Post by vkou »

biocomputation wrote: post #127
vkou wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the whole point. Unless you are a direct descendant of native Americans, you too are a guest of theirs, regardless of whether you are a first generation immigrant, or the grandchild of one. But strangely, nobody is in much of a hurry to ask for native opinions on immigration policy. I am here under the same set of rules as any native born settler - which accurately describes most Americans - is. Maybe even mor…

That's an utterly fallacious argument and you know it. We're talking about current US immigration policy, not the history of the US, which no one is in a position to change. Your attempt to reframe this debate by painting all US citizens who are not the descendants of indigenous peoples as 'guests' only weakens your arguments because it is crystal clear that you're using US history as a straw man. Whether you like it…

It would be hypocrisy if after taking advantage of the system, I sought to change it, and lock other people out. Just because you live somewhere does not mean you are in 100% moral agreement with how every aspect of that place is ran.

I think you're missing the lede. To summarize:

1. Most Americans are settlers. They, or their ancestors, were immigrants.

2. Most of them, or their ancestors, immigrated when the rules for doing so were far more lax.

3. Some of them now seek to change the rules.

There's an argument that can be made that wage suppression is bad. Great. When I provide examples when wage suppression isn't happening, I'm told that's not the problem - apparently immigration in itself is bad (Because more people living here will suppress wages). See - points 1 and 2.

"You being here ruins it for everyone else, context be damned" is not quite discussing H1B on its merits - especially when that's an argument made by a fellow settler.

Re: H-1B abuse: Bay Area tech workers from India paid a pittance, feds say

#140

Post by cheriot »

bduerst wrote: post #80
cheriot wrote: post #23

It's always companies that specialize in offshoring caught doing this. Why do these companies get H1B visas when there are companies willing to pay better that don't? Turn H1B into an auction. Lotteries are a terrible way to allocate a scare resource.

H1B auctions would drive wages down for American citizens. Companies could hire immigrants for less than what the prevailing wage is of citizens working the same job in the same area - then lay off the citizens.

No, limiting them to the highest bidders means they'll actually be used to bring in only the most talented and skilled. That will grow the size of the pie and the entire country wins.

Resume the brain drain.

Post reply on HN