4 ms·

I don't think school teachers need an H-1B. Plenty of people in the US willing to do that job. If anything, we need to restrict the supply of school teacher lab

I don't think school teachers need an H-1B. Plenty of people in the US willing to do that job. If anything, we need to restrict the supply of school teacher labor so that there's an upward pressure in salary. As for Foreign Language Instructors, I would argue that should be a different visa category altogether. Probably an O-1C type visa (which doesn't exist today). Someone with a specific skill set that is unavailable in the US by definition. But IANAL.

shagie 1y ago
I would encourage to to look at the reports from https://tsa.ed.gov/#/reports https://tsa.ed.gov/#/reports - that's "Teacher Shortage Areas" If it was the case that we needed to restrict the supply... those reports would suggest a different story. The pressure on teacher salary is more often limited by state and local government rather than the availability of teachers. There is a problem there with teacher salaries and the number of them available to hire - but making it so that it would be impossible for a school in a city in rural North Carolina to hire teachers ( https://h1bdata.info/index.php?em=vance+county+public+schools&job=teacher&city=&year=2025 https://h1bdata.info/index.php?em=vance+county+public+school... ) that they're having difficulty with finding people to work there isn't necessarily the answer. And to the "but they're only paying $40k - of course no one is going to work there. That's slightly above the median household income for the area (and almost twice the per capita income). There does need to be a larger discussion about the funding of education. Making it so that the schools can't hire anyone who would need a visa because they're having difficulty hiring there - I don't believe that is the right answer.
- airstrike 1y ago
  The H-1B visa should not be designed as a solution for teacher shortage in America. I still think the core problem is low salaries. Comparing to median household or per capita income isn't necessarily accurate because jobs don't all place the same demands on workers, so workers don't choose solely based on income.
  - shagie 1y ago
    The H-1B visa is not a solution to the shortage of teachers in the US. Rather, it is a tool that some school districts are using to try to fill in the gaps where they have a shortage. My point is one of "if fixing of H-1B abuse is solved by changing it to be an auction based on compensation, it will negatively impact all of the companies that use the H-1B for roles other than those that can compete with Big Tech software developers for compensation." There are a lot of people out there on a H-1B visa working for companies that have gone through the process of trying to hire a US citizen first and failed to find anyone for that role (that isn't a software developer). There are classifications for companies that employ a lot of H-1B visa holders. It is known as a H-1B-dependent employer - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-1B-dependent_employer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-1B-dependent_employer If the goal is to limit the fraud and abuses ( here's how to report https://www.uscis.gov/scams-fraud-and-misconduct/report-fraud/combating-fraud-and-abuse-in-the-h-1b-visa-program https://www.uscis.gov/scams-fraud-and-misconduct/report-frau... ) then further regulating and auditing companies in that classification would be the first place to start rather than trying to change the visa itself. Yes, this is playing whack-a-mole with "shut down one fraudulent consultancy and another one pops up." However, a significant component of this is that companies have difficulty managing projects and staff outside of their core competencies. We need to migrate from one ERP system to another - you get the professional services for the ERP company which in turn brings in a consultancy to do the project. It isn't entirely reasonable for the original company to try to staff up FTEs to do it (and them lay 3/4ths of them off when the project is complete and it goes to a maintenance level of work). Low salaries - by themselves - are not the problem. There are fields that don't pay as well as Big Tech software developer. There are also companies that have much lower revenue per employee than Big Tech companies ( https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=revenue+per+employee+%28Apple%2C+Meta%2C+Google%29 https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=revenue+per+employee+%2... ) and trying to match Big Tech compensation would bankrupt them.
    - airstrike 1y ago
      > There are a lot of people out there on a H-1B visa working for companies that have gone through the process of trying to hire a US citizen first and failed to find anyone for that role (that isn't a software developer). Yes, but I still think those positions are better solved by increasing the salary for those positions. Even if you don't believe that, the H-1B as it exists today is trying to do too many things at once and it's failing at most of those. My specific policy proposal is on fixing it for the use case of finding high-skilled workers for high-paying jobs US citizens do not want to do today. I'm not at all against having other visa programs to solve other needs, including temp workers for tech consulting gigs, teachers or anything else, for that matter. I'm 100% pro immigration, as is anyone who understands Economics.

shagie 1y ago

I would encourage to to look at the reports from https://tsa.ed.gov/#/reports https://tsa.ed.gov/#/reports - that's "Teacher Shortage Areas" If it was the case that we needed to restrict the supply... those reports would suggest a different story. The pressure on teacher salary is more often limited by state and local government rather than the availability of teachers. There is a problem there with teacher salaries and the number of them available to hire - but making it so that it would be impossible for a school in a city in rural North Carolina to hire teachers ( https://h1bdata.info/index.php?em=vance+county+public+schools&job=teacher&city=&year=2025 https://h1bdata.info/index.php?em=vance+county+public+school... ) that they're having difficulty with finding people to work there isn't necessarily the answer. And to the "but they're only paying $40k - of course no one is going to work there. That's slightly above the median household income for the area (and almost twice the per capita income). There does need to be a larger discussion about the funding of education. Making it so that the schools can't hire anyone who would need a visa because they're having difficulty hiring there - I don't believe that is the right answer.

airstrike 1y ago
The H-1B visa should not be designed as a solution for teacher shortage in America. I still think the core problem is low salaries. Comparing to median household or per capita income isn't necessarily accurate because jobs don't all place the same demands on workers, so workers don't choose solely based on income.
- shagie 1y ago
  The H-1B visa is not a solution to the shortage of teachers in the US. Rather, it is a tool that some school districts are using to try to fill in the gaps where they have a shortage. My point is one of "if fixing of H-1B abuse is solved by changing it to be an auction based on compensation, it will negatively impact all of the companies that use the H-1B for roles other than those that can compete with Big Tech software developers for compensation." There are a lot of people out there on a H-1B visa working for companies that have gone through the process of trying to hire a US citizen first and failed to find anyone for that role (that isn't a software developer). There are classifications for companies that employ a lot of H-1B visa holders. It is known as a H-1B-dependent employer - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-1B-dependent_employer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-1B-dependent_employer If the goal is to limit the fraud and abuses ( here's how to report https://www.uscis.gov/scams-fraud-and-misconduct/report-fraud/combating-fraud-and-abuse-in-the-h-1b-visa-program https://www.uscis.gov/scams-fraud-and-misconduct/report-frau... ) then further regulating and auditing companies in that classification would be the first place to start rather than trying to change the visa itself. Yes, this is playing whack-a-mole with "shut down one fraudulent consultancy and another one pops up." However, a significant component of this is that companies have difficulty managing projects and staff outside of their core competencies. We need to migrate from one ERP system to another - you get the professional services for the ERP company which in turn brings in a consultancy to do the project. It isn't entirely reasonable for the original company to try to staff up FTEs to do it (and them lay 3/4ths of them off when the project is complete and it goes to a maintenance level of work). Low salaries - by themselves - are not the problem. There are fields that don't pay as well as Big Tech software developer. There are also companies that have much lower revenue per employee than Big Tech companies ( https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=revenue+per+employee+%28Apple%2C+Meta%2C+Google%29 https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=revenue+per+employee+%2... ) and trying to match Big Tech compensation would bankrupt them.
  - airstrike 1y ago
    > There are a lot of people out there on a H-1B visa working for companies that have gone through the process of trying to hire a US citizen first and failed to find anyone for that role (that isn't a software developer). Yes, but I still think those positions are better solved by increasing the salary for those positions. Even if you don't believe that, the H-1B as it exists today is trying to do too many things at once and it's failing at most of those. My specific policy proposal is on fixing it for the use case of finding high-skilled workers for high-paying jobs US citizens do not want to do today. I'm not at all against having other visa programs to solve other needs, including temp workers for tech consulting gigs, teachers or anything else, for that matter. I'm 100% pro immigration, as is anyone who understands Economics.