The Heritage Foundation has put out a new report calling on Congress to bring in more cheap H-1B foreign tech workers. The report is flat out wrong on many counts.
They claim that H-1B workers do not lower wages for U.S. tech workers. This is common sense false and a new study co-authored by a upenn-wharton professor clearly shows that H-1B wages cause American tech workers wages to go down. Employers are supposed to pay H-1B workers the same wages as Americans, but they don’t. If they did they wouldn’t be hiring them. That is why they hire them, for the cheap labor.
They claim that firms hiring H-1B workers are not taking jobs from Americans. They actually are taking jobs that Americans could and should get. These firms routinely avoid hiring American workers in an attempt to claim that they could not find willing & qualified American workers.
They claim that America doesn’t have enough tech & engineering students and thus not enough workers in these fields. This is clearly false. U.S. colleges and universities are pumping out tens of thousand more tech and engineering students than we have jobs for. Many of these students have master’s degrees and above.
And that is just a few of the things wrong with this study.
The current number of H-1B’s approved is 65,000 a year, plus an additional 20,000 more for those with Master’s degrees and above.
The Heritage Foundation calls for:
“•Return the cap to the 2001 quota of 195,000 visas a year.
•Make the program flexible. If the visa quota is met the year before, the cap should be automatically increased by a preset amount legislated by Congress. In addition, unused visas should be recaptured and used the following year.”
Thanks a lot.
Over 200,000 U.S. tech workers have been laid off or fired over just the past few months. Firms are laying them off right and left and these idiots at the Heritage Foundation claim that we don’t have enough U.S. tech workers and we need more.
I am so sick and tired of people putting their agenda (in this case the free market) ahead of America and American workers. We can do lots of other things to make a business friendly environment for these firms in the U.S. AND still have some decency and loyalty to U.S. WORKERS.
Let’s put AMERICANS TO WORK. Let’s KICK the cheap H-1B foreign nationals to the curb.
Bailout money and stimulus money that U.S. taxpayers will have to pay for is going to hire foreign workers (H-1B, L-1 and illegals).
It’s time to once again stand on our own two feet!
It’s time to return to American Self-Reliance!
thanks for bringing up this important issue
wherever this economy goes, it must never be forgotten how the shortage shouters shouted shortage even during the absolute worst conditions