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A solution to this wholesale import of cheap labor is to rank all the H-1B applications in order of salary, and take the top N. Presto: problem of low-wage impo
by discardorama 11y ago
A solution to this wholesale import of cheap labor is to rank all the H-1B applications in order of salary, and take the top N. Presto: problem of low-wage imports solved; companies will now be able to find local talent, since they'll have to pay more, and tech workers will make more money. Win, win, win for all.
- shas3 11y ago...which would suck for the supply chain expert hired at some company's Kentucky logistics center. And yay for the software engineer in SF?
- dibujante 11y agoBreak it out by state?
- arh68 11y agoIt could be based on federal GS locality pay: $135,750 in SF would be equivalent to $114,350 in KY. There'd be no need for quotas per state. [1] https://www.federalpay.org/gs/locality https://www.federalpay.org/gs/locality
- TimJRobinson 11y agoThere could be x visas per state or area, relative to demand for the visa in that area. Then only the top paid workers in that area get them.
- eli_gottlieb 11y agoWhy is a Kentucky logistics center entitled to import cheap labor?
- shas3 11y agoHuh? Because you can live a king's life for $100k family income in Kentucky, while you can barely afford rent in Bay Area with the same salary. Also, manufacturing, logistics, have other reasons for being located where they are.
- eli_gottlieb 11y agoI'm not saying the logistics center should relocate. I'm saying that it's not especially deserving of government help in the form of a skilled-labor visa if it's not going to pay as much as someone else. After all, cost-of-living differences aren't accounted-for in the tax return the employee files.
- serge2k 11y agoWell, except they don't have to live in Kentucky.
- gherkin0 11y agoThat's a strange attitude. Immigration is not some weird form of corporate welfare, where corporations have some right to get employee-immigrants at prices they can afford. Honestly, I'd like it if the Kentucky logistics company were forced to pay SF wages. It might help drive up wages for skilled workers in Kentucky.
- shas3 11y agoHow is it corporate welfare? The objective is a legal framework to allow companies to hire skilled international workers: pharma scientists as much as Ruby-on-rails wizards. It is also corporate welfare if you are indirectly loading the die in high-paying SF/NY jobs.
- curiousDog 11y agoAgree. And ban outsourcing companies from India from getting H1-Bs. They actually have a special category for them but they bring so many people in that they spill over into H1-B. The people they bring in are from the bottom-of-the barrel colleges in India (I am from there).
- discardorama 11y ago> And ban outsourcing companies from India from getting H1-Bs. You don't have to; the market will take care of it. They severely underpay their workers, so they'll never be able to compete.
- HarryHirsch 11y agoYou'd think that all H1-B visa will end up in SF and NYC, the two cities with highest wages. The rent is too damn high already in SF and NYC! It's interfering with the job market. A saner job market would have people refuse to move to NYC because they cannot afford a roof over their head.
- bsder 11y ago> A saner job market would have people refuse to move to NYC because they cannot afford a roof over their head. People move to SF and NYC because those places are good when you need to find your NEXT job because you got laid off.
- goodcanadian 11y agoI have done that. It wasn't NYC or SF, but I once turned down a job primarily because there was a mismatch between salary and cost of living (among other reasons).