Firms often claim they want to hire on the basis of merit, but then don't offer the salaries necessary to hire on that basis. E.g., those that have higher abil

Firms often claim they want to hire on the basis of merit, but then don't offer the salaries necessary to hire on that basis. E.g., those that have higher abilities through merit deserve substantially higher salaries, based on merit. The firms can find people on merit, but they are trying to lower the amount of money paid for people, so they seek immigrants to depress wage rates.