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"This high skills immigration is crucial to American competitiveness, global competitiveness, building these new companies and so forth," he said. "America does

"This high skills immigration is crucial to American competitiveness, global competitiveness, building these new companies and so forth," he said. "America does not have enough people with those skills." Translation -- US software engineer salaries are still too high for his liking, so he wants to dilute the market with more to lower the overall cost.

dayjobpork 6y ago
Bingo It really annoys me when they bitch about not being able to bring in skilled workers from overseas because they can't find skilled people here... Hey, maybe they should fucking train someone! Usually when a tech boss is complaining about not having skilled staff locally it's code for "... I want to find someone cheaper overseas". It's like seeing a job ad that wants a wizard at everything but has terrible pay, they just want to import a cheaper worker.
- weyland108 6y ago
  Or they don’t really care where a skilled worker comes from... we should be able to higher and attract best and brightest across the world. Current immigration system is not setup for that.
  - TimWillebrands 6y ago
    Why do you feel that smart people from all over the world should serve the American economy?
- TheOtherHobbes 6y ago
  "Innovation."
- abnskH 6y ago
  I agree that it's about cheaper workers. On the other hand, the percentage of persons who are willing to be trained in the software industry is low. The millenials and later go straight for politics and dethroning anyone who was there longer than 5 years. It shows in the Rube Goldberg BS they are producing.
- sjg007 6y ago
  You should have trained yourself in school etc... these folks aren’t cheaper.
- citrin_ru 6y ago
  > maybe they should fucking train someone! Training of a highly educated person takes at least 15 years starting with elementary school. Looks like the US school system is in bad shape, but it a bit strange to demand from Eric Schmidt to fix it. Immigration is a way to get skilled workers which doesn't require waiting many years for the results, but it doesn't preclude fixing education meanwhile.
  - JetSpiegel 6y ago
    > Looks like the US school system is in bad shape, but it a bit strange to demand from Eric Schmidt to fix it. Is he willing to pay taxes instead of laundering the money through Dutch and Irish subsidiaries? Google is over 15 years old now, they could have started this deep training already. Maybe Erich Schidmt's vision stops on the next quarter.
533474 6y ago
And let the brain drain go to Europe or China instead?. Or is it statistically possible that the best innovators and skilled individuals are only born in the US? I do not mind a little competition if we bring people who might improve our technological edge. China is going to surpass the US eventually and oh lord, we are in denial!. This is my opinion, I am not claiming to know the absolute truth or facts.
- barry-cotter 6y ago
  > And let the brain drain go to Europe or China instead? A lot of things would need to change for that to happen. Switzerland naturalizes more people every year than the PRC has ever naturalized and the Swiss are not known for making joining their nation easy. Shanghai, the richest city in China, has a GDP per capita on par with Poland last I checked and the country as a whole is ranked 96th, a bit above Thailand. The EU isn’t that attractive either. Germany is poorer than all US states but Mississippi. Money isn’t the only thing when it comes to brain drain but it’s a big, big thing. A European long-term resident of China.
- unix_fan 6y ago
  mandarin and German are not exactly easy to learn in my country. maybe French, but I’m still culturally exposed to English. I live in a Spanish speaking island in the Caribbean, and really, being drawn to the US is inevitable. With that being said, most people are drawn to the US for the reasons highlighted above. That will not change any time soon.
jnathsf 6y ago
That’s the cynical perspective. The flip side is that the US has traditionally attracted the best talent in the world. This class has gone on to win the most Nobel prizes and create the most valuable companies in the world. Focusing on a real negative externality (labor arbitrage) fails to recognize the immense benefits skilled immigrants bring to this country. I’m a son if one of them. My dad came this country in the 60s to get his masters in math at BYU. Probably the only South Asian in the entire class. He overcame extreme poverty,(half of his siblings died in childhood), disabilities to go on and achieve so much. I benefit from his achievements and being a US citizen. That being said, we’re losing our preeminence due to growing xenophobia and a strident “might is right” worldview. But it doesn’t have to be this way - we can embrace our shared humanity while still competing on the global stage for talent.
- blfr 6y ago
  The real innovation largely stopped soon after your dad came to the US (although it probably wasn't his fault!) and in the time of massive, society-changing levels of immigration, not seen since the 1920s. The model of immigrants causing innovation and xenophobia holding it back simply doesn't match observation. Something interesting happened in the early '70s and it deserves a much better explanation https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/ https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/
  - gen220 6y ago
    FWIW, I could write the same comment as the GP. My dad even shared an office building with the person who’s the topic of this thread, for a time. Quibbling over the definition of “innovation” aside, this country was built by immigrants because America itself is a country of composed predominantly of immigrants. As for 1971, my explanation is that this was the point of no return for the various great society programs that we benefit from today (Medicare medicaid and social security). It was a point at which keeping a full-time w-2 employee on payroll leaped involuntarily. It made American labor safer and also more expensive, and encouraged capitalists to seek out cheaper labor in the “developing world”. It also created a lot of bureaucracy around managing the new tax dollars. I don’t think it has anything significant to do with immigration. Although the “problem” presented by those charts is so vague that people can see in them whatever they like, I suppose.
phenkdo 6y ago
Put another way, our already overpaid highnesses want higher and higher salaries, without having to work for it. So it goes both ways.
username90 6y ago
US software engineer salaries are high since they develop software the entire world uses. If you prevent companies from recruiting talent from the entire world then companies like Google or Facebook that has 70% immigrants on their payroll will have to move their big offices abroad likely reducing American salaries.
trabant00 6y ago
Even if this is what it translates to exactly, it still is not wrong. Funding is not without limits and you want to get most value for money spent.
wbl 6y ago
Immigration increases labor demand as well as labor supply. It also permits more specialization.
- betaby 6y ago
  Doesn't work well for Canada in reality, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/immigrants-and-wages/article1326480/ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/immigrants-and-wages... https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/SSU/TC-SSU-08092003135235.pdf https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/SSU/TC-SS...
tester756 6y ago
Internet told me that best performing students in USA are mostly Asians If that's true, then his point stands, I guess?
- hello_1234 6y ago
  Just go see the latest papers in CS - https://arxiv.org/list/cs/recent https://arxiv.org/list/cs/recent A lot of authors have Asian names (Chinese and Indian)
ArkVark 6y ago
America is under-investing in technology and investment because the US is increasingly filled with people who aren’t American, and don’t ever aspire to be American – they just want what Americans have. The social and cultural values that allowed America to become the light on the hill, to generate the sort of excessive social capital that allowed the Apollo program, now needs to be diverted to support those who just want the lifestyle that living in the US economic zone enables, without the responsibility or cultural ownership of the values that made it possible. America was a success before the Immigration Act of 1965, what diversity has delivered to America is division and destruction, as imported people and cultures predictably demand their values and needs be attended to in primacy to all others. Instead of investing in STEM to build the next epoch changing era of technology, we are investing in social sciences that specialise in division and enjoy pulling apart cohesive societies like a psychopathic doctor pulling apart wounds with tweezers.
- vsskanth 6y ago
  Would like to hear more of your thoughts on this, but in simpler terms. If I'm understanding you correctly, you're claiming immigrants are here primarily only for the money, but don't want to culturally integrate ?
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]

dayjobpork 6y ago

Bingo It really annoys me when they bitch about not being able to bring in skilled workers from overseas because they can't find skilled people here... Hey, maybe they should fucking train someone! Usually when a tech boss is complaining about not having skilled staff locally it's code for "... I want to find someone cheaper overseas". It's like seeing a job ad that wants a wizard at everything but has terrible pay, they just want to import a cheaper worker.

weyland108 6y ago
Or they don’t really care where a skilled worker comes from... we should be able to higher and attract best and brightest across the world. Current immigration system is not setup for that.
- TimWillebrands 6y ago
  Why do you feel that smart people from all over the world should serve the American economy?
TheOtherHobbes 6y ago
"Innovation."
abnskH 6y ago
I agree that it's about cheaper workers. On the other hand, the percentage of persons who are willing to be trained in the software industry is low. The millenials and later go straight for politics and dethroning anyone who was there longer than 5 years. It shows in the Rube Goldberg BS they are producing.
sjg007 6y ago
You should have trained yourself in school etc... these folks aren’t cheaper.
citrin_ru 6y ago
> maybe they should fucking train someone! Training of a highly educated person takes at least 15 years starting with elementary school. Looks like the US school system is in bad shape, but it a bit strange to demand from Eric Schmidt to fix it. Immigration is a way to get skilled workers which doesn't require waiting many years for the results, but it doesn't preclude fixing education meanwhile.
- JetSpiegel 6y ago
  > Looks like the US school system is in bad shape, but it a bit strange to demand from Eric Schmidt to fix it. Is he willing to pay taxes instead of laundering the money through Dutch and Irish subsidiaries? Google is over 15 years old now, they could have started this deep training already. Maybe Erich Schidmt's vision stops on the next quarter.

533474 6y ago

And let the brain drain go to Europe or China instead?. Or is it statistically possible that the best innovators and skilled individuals are only born in the US? I do not mind a little competition if we bring people who might improve our technological edge. China is going to surpass the US eventually and oh lord, we are in denial!. This is my opinion, I am not claiming to know the absolute truth or facts.

barry-cotter 6y ago
> And let the brain drain go to Europe or China instead? A lot of things would need to change for that to happen. Switzerland naturalizes more people every year than the PRC has ever naturalized and the Swiss are not known for making joining their nation easy. Shanghai, the richest city in China, has a GDP per capita on par with Poland last I checked and the country as a whole is ranked 96th, a bit above Thailand. The EU isn’t that attractive either. Germany is poorer than all US states but Mississippi. Money isn’t the only thing when it comes to brain drain but it’s a big, big thing. A European long-term resident of China.
unix_fan 6y ago
mandarin and German are not exactly easy to learn in my country. maybe French, but I’m still culturally exposed to English. I live in a Spanish speaking island in the Caribbean, and really, being drawn to the US is inevitable. With that being said, most people are drawn to the US for the reasons highlighted above. That will not change any time soon.

jnathsf 6y ago

That’s the cynical perspective. The flip side is that the US has traditionally attracted the best talent in the world. This class has gone on to win the most Nobel prizes and create the most valuable companies in the world. Focusing on a real negative externality (labor arbitrage) fails to recognize the immense benefits skilled immigrants bring to this country. I’m a son if one of them. My dad came this country in the 60s to get his masters in math at BYU. Probably the only South Asian in the entire class. He overcame extreme poverty,(half of his siblings died in childhood), disabilities to go on and achieve so much. I benefit from his achievements and being a US citizen. That being said, we’re losing our preeminence due to growing xenophobia and a strident “might is right” worldview. But it doesn’t have to be this way - we can embrace our shared humanity while still competing on the global stage for talent.

blfr 6y ago
The real innovation largely stopped soon after your dad came to the US (although it probably wasn't his fault!) and in the time of massive, society-changing levels of immigration, not seen since the 1920s. The model of immigrants causing innovation and xenophobia holding it back simply doesn't match observation. Something interesting happened in the early '70s and it deserves a much better explanation https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/ https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/
- gen220 6y ago
  FWIW, I could write the same comment as the GP. My dad even shared an office building with the person who’s the topic of this thread, for a time. Quibbling over the definition of “innovation” aside, this country was built by immigrants because America itself is a country of composed predominantly of immigrants. As for 1971, my explanation is that this was the point of no return for the various great society programs that we benefit from today (Medicare medicaid and social security). It was a point at which keeping a full-time w-2 employee on payroll leaped involuntarily. It made American labor safer and also more expensive, and encouraged capitalists to seek out cheaper labor in the “developing world”. It also created a lot of bureaucracy around managing the new tax dollars. I don’t think it has anything significant to do with immigration. Although the “problem” presented by those charts is so vague that people can see in them whatever they like, I suppose.

phenkdo 6y ago

Put another way, our already overpaid highnesses want higher and higher salaries, without having to work for it. So it goes both ways.

username90 6y ago

US software engineer salaries are high since they develop software the entire world uses. If you prevent companies from recruiting talent from the entire world then companies like Google or Facebook that has 70% immigrants on their payroll will have to move their big offices abroad likely reducing American salaries.

trabant00 6y ago

Even if this is what it translates to exactly, it still is not wrong. Funding is not without limits and you want to get most value for money spent.

wbl 6y ago

Immigration increases labor demand as well as labor supply. It also permits more specialization.

betaby 6y ago
Doesn't work well for Canada in reality, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/immigrants-and-wages/article1326480/ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/immigrants-and-wages... https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/SSU/TC-SSU-08092003135235.pdf https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/SSU/TC-SS...

tester756 6y ago

Internet told me that best performing students in USA are mostly Asians If that's true, then his point stands, I guess?

hello_1234 6y ago
Just go see the latest papers in CS - https://arxiv.org/list/cs/recent https://arxiv.org/list/cs/recent A lot of authors have Asian names (Chinese and Indian)

ArkVark 6y ago

America is under-investing in technology and investment because the US is increasingly filled with people who aren’t American, and don’t ever aspire to be American – they just want what Americans have. The social and cultural values that allowed America to become the light on the hill, to generate the sort of excessive social capital that allowed the Apollo program, now needs to be diverted to support those who just want the lifestyle that living in the US economic zone enables, without the responsibility or cultural ownership of the values that made it possible. America was a success before the Immigration Act of 1965, what diversity has delivered to America is division and destruction, as imported people and cultures predictably demand their values and needs be attended to in primacy to all others. Instead of investing in STEM to build the next epoch changing era of technology, we are investing in social sciences that specialise in division and enjoy pulling apart cohesive societies like a psychopathic doctor pulling apart wounds with tweezers.

vsskanth 6y ago
Would like to hear more of your thoughts on this, but in simpler terms. If I'm understanding you correctly, you're claiming immigrants are here primarily only for the money, but don't want to culturally integrate ?
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]