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The H-1B Visa Program and Its Impact on the U.S. Economy
- rramadass 1y agoExcerpts: According to many economists, the presence of immigrant workers in the United States creates new job opportunities for native-born workers. This occurs in five ways. First, immigrant workers and native-born workers often have different skill sets, meaning that they fill different types of jobs. As a result, they complement each other in the labor market rather than competing for the exact same jobs. Second, immigrant workers spend and invest their wages in the U.S. economy, which increases consumer demand and creates new jobs. Third, businesses respond to the presence of immigrant workers and consumers by expanding their operations in the United States rather than searching for new opportunities overseas. Fourth, immigrants themselves frequently create new businesses, thereby expanding the U.S. labor market. Fifth, the new ideas and innovations developed by immigrants fuel economic growth. Similarly, a recent study found that, between 2005 and 2018, an increase in the share of workers within a particular occupation who were H-1B visa holders was associated with a decrease in the unemployment rate within that occupation. Another recent study found that restrictions on H-1B visas (such as rising denial rates) motivate U.S.-based multinational corporations to decrease the number of jobs they offer in this country. Instead, the corporations increase employment at their existing foreign affiliates or open new foreign affiliates—particularly in India, China, and Canada. A study conducted in 2019 revealed that higher rates of successful H-1B applications were positively correlated with an increased number of patents filed and patent citations. Moreover, such startups were more inclined to secure venture capital funding and achieve successful IPOs or acquisitions. The available data also indicate that H-1B workers do not earn low wages or drag down the wages of other workers. In 2021, the median wage of an H-1B worker was $108,000, compared to $45,760 for U.S. workers in general. Moreover, between 2003 and 2021, the median wage of H-1B workers grew by 52 percent. During the same period, the median wage of all U.S. workers increased by 39 percent. In FY 2019, 78 percent of all employers who hired H-1B workers offered wages to H-1B visa holders that were higher than what the Department of Labor had determined to be the “prevailing wage” for a particular kind of job.
- zerosizedweasle 1y agoThis wouldn't be happening if the tech companies hadn't shut out so many college grads from entry level jobs. The tech industry had the power to curb h1b abuse but they didn't. This is the consequence.
- ai_critic 1y agoAn interesting take on this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmY6-2idC1o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmY6-2idC1o
- rramadass 1y agoNot True. In the 90s, the Tech Industry in the US grew at such a pace that you simply did not have enough supply of domestic college grads. It was the H-1Bs who saved and cemented the US's dominance in the Tech Industry. See also U.S. Economic Growth in the Information Age (2001) - https://issues.org/jorgenson/ https://issues.org/jorgenson/
- zerosizedweasle 1y agoWe aren't in the 1990s last time I checked.
- leakycap 1y agoHey where'd I put my math co-processor?!
- rramadass 1y agoNot the point. The rest of the world (specifically EU and China) has played catch-up and if the US wants to maintain its Tech dominance, you still need H-1Bs to maintain your momentum.
- mgh95 1y agoI think the combination of birth rates in China and Russia banging on the door of the EU is going to help the US more than H1Bs for the US. With current demographics, the US is slated to be more populous than China at the turn of the next century.
- rramadass 1y agoNobody here on HN seems to know much about the H-1B details. Here are DOL's "Fact Sheets" on H-1B - https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/62/h1b https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/62/h1b
- coolThingsFirst 1y ago100K fee is godsent, the abuse had had to stop somewhere.
- fda123 1y agoYeah. Who cares if he might be pedophile as long as he is active towards things I care about.
- gsibble 1y agoPretty much, yeah.
- coolThingsFirst 1y agoA democrat should've been there so we flip a coin and decide the gender of your kid. The democrats went too far left which is why they lost.
- intermerda 1y ago> A democrat should've been there so we flip a coin and decide the gender of your kid. Nice strawman. > The democrats went too far left which is why they lost. The democrats lost because they underestimated the stupidity and overestimated the decency of the American public. They are so bad at politics that they couldn't even prevent half the country to stop supporting a pedophile - you included.
- kappi 1y agoThis is propaganda. CS new grads from Top10 are finding it tough to get jobs. There is lot of supply of smart CS grads within US. No need to hire H1Bs in the current economic situation which is different from late 90s when H1B program started.
- coolThingsFirst 1y ago[flagged]
- jitix 1y agoCS grads everywhere are finding it tough, including India - and it wont improve until the AI hype is over.
- danieltanfh95 1y agoNo, there aren't enough "smart CS grads". I think American talent tend to overestimate their ability vs their actual skill level.
- ethanwillis 1y agoYou're wrong.
- rramadass 1y agoI think you just proved his point ;-)
- ethanwillis 1y agoIn what way? I just disagree that americans "overestimate" their skill levels. I think the realistic answer is there's a range of "unskilled" to "skilled"
- rramadass 1y agoAmericans Stubbornly Continue to Overestimate Their Intelligence - https://psmag.com/news/americans-stubbornly-continue-to-overestimate-their-intelligence/ https://psmag.com/news/americans-stubbornly-continue-to-over... The World Sees Americans as Disorder-Level Narcissists - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-11/study-the-world-sees-americans-as-disorder-level-narcissists https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-11/study-the... With Trump & Co. it is reaching the asymptotic limit.
- gsibble 1y agoHire Americans!
- grumple 1y agoH1Bs are much less of a problem than the offshoring and outsourcing. I’d rather lure top talent to live in the US than ship jobs off to exploited contractors who work for nothing.
- aborsy 1y agoOutsourcing is the main problem. Companies have learned that they can recruit 10X cheaper in other countries.
- thisisit 1y agoConsumerism and apathy is the main problem. People just wanted cheap goods while not caring how the sausage was made. People didn't care to understand the long term damage just that today's needs should be served. Then companies learned that they can/need recruit 10x cheaper in other countries to make it cheaper that is what they did. Now the apathy shoe is on the other foot. This government's action have ensured there cannot be any study to show impact of these rules in an impartial manner. Everything has to be for or against these rules. That means people don't care to understand the long term damage just that today's needs should be served.
- PKop 1y agoI'd rather have neither. I'd rather not import foreign labor to compete with Americans for housing, jobs, wages, healthcare, political power etc. This is a zero-sum game, the nation and its economy exists for the benefit of its citizens not to provide prosperity to people who don't live here.
- ajoseps 1y agoI think the assumption of it being a zero-sum game is wrong. Almost half of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or their children [0]. The source is still the American Immigration Council, but even just looking at a specific example can illustrate that it might not be a zero sum game. Jensen Huang, the co-founder and now CEO of NVIDIA, was an immigrant. NVIDIA is one of the most valuable companies today and has generated thousand of jobs and has helped create the AI revolution happening right now. You can argue that some other American born citizen would have created NVIDIA or found the same success, but that is difficult to prove. I fundamentally disagree that this is a zero sum game. Many immigrants add to the American experience and many become citizens themselves. The country loses out in ignoring foreign labor, especially if it’s foreigners who are taught in our schools and want to come and work here. [0] https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/report/fortune-500-companies-founded-by-immigrants-2025/ https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/report/fortune-50...
- PKop 1y agoThe American economy is for the benefit of Americans. Period. We don't care what foreigners think about domestic policies of Americans and their elected leaders. This is something that should have been done a while ago. There are plenty of Americans that can fill these jobs. We have industries issuing layoffs while simultaneously requesting foreign labor. It's time to end this nonsense.
- mieses 1y agoAgreed. And if there aren't enough Americans or if our culture does not value academics then the solution is not more H1B's but to fix the culture. Higher tariffs on foreign labor and products will reduce the debt. The money that would have gone towards debt interest could be spent on domestic needs, including cultural programs.
- nishanseal 1y ago46% of the Fortune 500 was started by immigrants or their children.
- rramadass 1y agoWhat is funny is that the H-1B "scheme" surpassed all expectations by selling the "American Dream" so well to the rest-of-the-world that they all actually lost due to "brain drain". It was a brilliant long-term strategy. And yet you have people refusing to face the facts and see the data that the US has-been and is the clear winner in all this.
- naveen99 1y agoa lot of international athletes come to the usa on athletic scholarships. Universities are also a gateway for about a million students a year. And then there are about a 100 million tourists a year who can head to a sanctuary city… And a lot of labor just walks over also via a daily limit upto 15k people per day depending on wage inflation. It’s not so much a drain as a centrifuge that concentrates the willing and able from every category.
- nishanseal 1y agoYea, the United States is the original Meta but instead of having to pay a ton and recruit the best and the brightest, they just came to us. Imagine how much more powerful China and India would be if we didn’t get so many of their smart people.
- EasyMark 1y agoI don't think the "or their children" means a whole lot here, but the fact that immigrants start a lot of businesses on average than your average US citizen, which is actually important.
- tiberius_p 1y ago[flagged]
- nomilk 1y agoUS-based companies that depend on H-1Bs may: - stomach the cost increase, - reduce the number of H-1Bs they hire, - move (the company) out of the US (i.e. to less imposing jurisdictions). If companies choose the latter, the irony is the resulting reduction in US tax revenue from companies moving out could outweigh the gains in revenue from the $100k H-1B tax, thus resulting in lower US government tax revenues due to the change.
- zerosizedweasle 1y agoLook if they are willing to do this, what makes you think they will allow them to move abroad without severe penalties? We are in a new era. Think of all the power the US government could bring to bear on a company.
- nomilk 1y ago> what makes you think they will allow them to move abroad without severe penalties To my knowledge, there's no penalty (severe or otherwise) for shutting down a company in the US. There are probably many more gentle solutions too, like if a multi-national wants an H-1B, but they have offices in other countries, they might simply hire through their offices in other jurisdictions. The employee could even take extended work trips to the US if required (but remain hired through the other country's office).
- zerosizedweasle 1y agoI think you underestimate the new populist era of state capitalism. The free market no longer reigns supreme. National interest is the guiding light. They will figure out ways to coerce companies to follow their agenda.
- techblueberry 1y agoNational interest would be a big improvement from what it seems like the current guiding light is.
- KevinMS 1y agoI'm thinking that American Immigration Council might have some bias on the subject.
- rramadass 1y agoThe above article is referenced on CNN here - https://edition.cnn.com/2025/09/20/business/h-1b-fee-trump-immigration-workers https://edition.cnn.com/2025/09/20/business/h-1b-fee-trump-i...