3 ms·
I'm not implying anything, but speaking from first-hand experience. As a foreign engineer who got decent education outside of US for free and then came over on
by pps43 10y ago
I'm not implying anything, but speaking from first-hand experience. As a foreign engineer who got decent education outside of US for free and then came over on H1B, I did have clear advantage over my US counterparts. I had no student loans to service, so could afford to accept a lower salary and get the same disposable income.
There is no labor scarcity issue. I switched fields away from software engineering but if you pay me enough, can switch back just as easily. It's not rocket science.
- yummyfajitas 10y agoOf course there is scarcity - not everyone has as many software engineers as they want. That's true even if people who left software come back. Again, you ignore the fact that if an Americans wants a cheap foreign education, they can buy one. The difference between $0 in loans and $5000 in loans is negligible.
- ryandrake 10y agoScarcity only exists at a price. When the prices is higher, the scarcity goes away. If I only want to pay $10,000 for a new car, and I can't find any, then is it fair to say that I am facing a shortage of Mercedes?
- yummyfajitas 10y agoYou are conflating the concept of scarcity and shortage. They aren't the same thing. Scarcity = not everyone who wants something can have it. This means that some sort of rationing mechanism must be used (e.g. price) to distribute that thing. Shortage = the price of a good is $X but not everyone willing to pay $X will receive the good. Shortage is a market condition, usually a symptom of a broken market. Scarcity is just a fundamental fact of counting. It is not fair to say there is a shortage of Mercedes, but it is fair to say that Mercedes are a scarce resource.