4 ms·

You are missing the point. H1-B’s depress wages because of the handcuffs. Nobody is arguing not to allow “foreigners”, the argument is, if they are as skilled

You are missing the point. H1-B’s depress wages because of the handcuffs. Nobody is arguing not to allow “foreigners”, the argument is, if they are as skilled as you claim, they ought to be brought in an open market system and their salaries should commesurate. The government seems smarter than you and realizes that H1-B’s are not a method to bring talent into the US, but a means to bring in cheaper talent into the US and we see that reflected in their salaries, If they were the LeBron James of software Engineering, you would see that show up, e.g. Larry Page and Sergey Brin. But you seem more interested in arguing some Libertarian pipe dream that doesn't exist. There isn't a free market for labor snd their never will be because that would cause salaries to rise.

esoterica 7y ago
If an “open market system” means that immigrants should be hired on an equal footing with citizens without being tied to a single employer who holds undue power over them, then I agree with you. You seem to be arguing the exact opposite (for more protectionism) though. The H-1B is essentially the only way to bring skilled workers into the US, besides a few other small niche categories. Almost ALL foreign skilled workers, not just the cheap ones, come in on that visa category. You have many fundamental factual misunderstandings about the reality of the program but that doesn’t seem to stop you from forming very strong opinions about it. I know many H-1Bs who make >1m/year, so it’s categorically not just for cheap talent.
- supercanuck 7y ago
  The median salary of an H1-B is $80,000. How is this even a debate as to the purpose of an H1-B? It is literally to increase supply of talent for the purpose of reducing labor cost.
  - esoterica 7y ago
    If immigrants depress wages then why is the Bay Area the best paying tech city in the entire world by a very large margin? There are a lot of immigrants there, are there not? You would expect an isolationist dictatorship like North Korea to have the best wages. The H-1B program represents almost the entirety of the American skilled immigration program. To ask what the H1-B program is for is to ask what skilled immigration is for. And skilled immigration is necessary for any company to become world beaters. Why do all the top European soccer teams have so many foreign players? Do you think it’s because they are too cheap to hire locals? You can’t conquer the world the way the valley has by tapping only 5% of the talent pool. Of course the program has many flaws (such as restricting the ability for immigrants to change jobs), but more protectionism and bigotry is not the answer to these flaws.
    - dragonwriter 7y ago
      > If immigrants depress wages then why is the Bay Area the best paying tech city in the entire world by a very large margin? Because of the factors that make it favorable to high-tech industry. > There are a lot of immigrants there, are there not? Yes, many of them brought in specifically to mitigate upward wage pressure. > You would expect an isolationist dictatorship like North Korea to have the best wages. No, you wouldn't; you are confusing a ceteris paribus effect with a sole driver effect.
      - esoterica 7y ago
        > Because of the factors that make it favorable to high-tech industry. The main factor is the extremely high concentration of the best tech talent in the world, many of whom are immigrants. What else do you think is special about Mountain View and Menlo Park? The strip malls and shitty public transit?

esoterica 7y ago

If an “open market system” means that immigrants should be hired on an equal footing with citizens without being tied to a single employer who holds undue power over them, then I agree with you. You seem to be arguing the exact opposite (for more protectionism) though. The H-1B is essentially the only way to bring skilled workers into the US, besides a few other small niche categories. Almost ALL foreign skilled workers, not just the cheap ones, come in on that visa category. You have many fundamental factual misunderstandings about the reality of the program but that doesn’t seem to stop you from forming very strong opinions about it. I know many H-1Bs who make >1m/year, so it’s categorically not just for cheap talent.

supercanuck 7y ago
The median salary of an H1-B is $80,000. How is this even a debate as to the purpose of an H1-B? It is literally to increase supply of talent for the purpose of reducing labor cost.
- esoterica 7y ago
  If immigrants depress wages then why is the Bay Area the best paying tech city in the entire world by a very large margin? There are a lot of immigrants there, are there not? You would expect an isolationist dictatorship like North Korea to have the best wages. The H-1B program represents almost the entirety of the American skilled immigration program. To ask what the H1-B program is for is to ask what skilled immigration is for. And skilled immigration is necessary for any company to become world beaters. Why do all the top European soccer teams have so many foreign players? Do you think it’s because they are too cheap to hire locals? You can’t conquer the world the way the valley has by tapping only 5% of the talent pool. Of course the program has many flaws (such as restricting the ability for immigrants to change jobs), but more protectionism and bigotry is not the answer to these flaws.
  - dragonwriter 7y ago
    > If immigrants depress wages then why is the Bay Area the best paying tech city in the entire world by a very large margin? Because of the factors that make it favorable to high-tech industry. > There are a lot of immigrants there, are there not? Yes, many of them brought in specifically to mitigate upward wage pressure. > You would expect an isolationist dictatorship like North Korea to have the best wages. No, you wouldn't; you are confusing a ceteris paribus effect with a sole driver effect.
    - esoterica 7y ago
      > Because of the factors that make it favorable to high-tech industry. The main factor is the extremely high concentration of the best tech talent in the world, many of whom are immigrants. What else do you think is special about Mountain View and Menlo Park? The strip malls and shitty public transit?