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> the H-1B has instead been wielded as a tool by firms to displace American workers and depress wages in the information technology (IT) labor market This is v

> the H-1B has instead been wielded as a tool by firms to displace American workers and depress wages in the information technology (IT) labor market This is very hard to square with software professionals being the fastest growing profession both in terms of number of employed workers and earnings in the past 2 decades. U.S. wages for software professionals are significantly higher than anywhere else in the world and nowhere else has as much software professionals immigration as the U.S. I’m predicting that the uncertainty and discouragement of H1-Bs will lead to a destruction of jobs in the U.S. and a suppression of salaries as high quality software engineers don’t move to the U.S., allowing the center of gravity of the industry to shift out of the U.S. Note: This is not to say there aren’t significant issues with the H1B system that need to be addressed. There are. But cutting off the supply of workers in the most remote friendly profession will not lead to an increase in wages. It will lead to an outflow of jobs instead.

hearsathought 11mo ago
> This is very hard to square with software professionals being the fastest growing profession both in terms of number of employed workers and earnings in the past 2 decades. Just because the wages rose doesn't mean it wasn't suppressed. It's likely wages would have risen even higher without foreign workers increasing the supply of labor. It's simply supply and demand. No? > I’m predicting that the uncertainty and discouragement of H1-Bs will lead to a destruction of jobs in the U.S. and a suppression of salaries as high quality software engineers don’t move to the U.S., allowing the center of gravity of the industry to shift out of the U.S. You seem to think that H1-B visas made the US the center of the tech world. It didn't. The US was the center of the world long before H1-B visas existed. Besides, if such a shift were possible, why wouldn't india hold onto their workers and become the center of the industry? Because India is incapable of being the center of anything. What region has the geopolitical clout along financial, cultural, scientific and military importance to become the center of the tech industry? India? Europe? China? Laughable isn't it?
innagadadavida 11mo ago
> I’m predicting that the uncertainty and discouragement of H1-Bs will lead to a destruction of jobs in the U.S. and a suppression of salaries as high quality software engineers don’t move to the U.S., allowing the center of gravity of the industry to shift out of the U.S. Statistically speaking if you take a bunch of low-mid level salary / skill folks and move them out of US, the average salary should increase no? R&D jobs in countries like India is still low compared to US. These are the high skill and pay jobs and they will continue to be here.
JumpCrisscross 11mo ago
> predicting that the uncertainty and discouragement of H1-Bs will lead to a destruction of jobs in the U.S. Do we have any studies pointing one way or another? Given AI’s existing effects on junior demand, and the post-Covid normalization of remote work (and thus multi-shore teams), I could see the effect going either way.
toomuchtodo 11mo ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45305623 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45305623 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42454509 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42454509

hearsathought 11mo ago

> This is very hard to square with software professionals being the fastest growing profession both in terms of number of employed workers and earnings in the past 2 decades. Just because the wages rose doesn't mean it wasn't suppressed. It's likely wages would have risen even higher without foreign workers increasing the supply of labor. It's simply supply and demand. No? > I’m predicting that the uncertainty and discouragement of H1-Bs will lead to a destruction of jobs in the U.S. and a suppression of salaries as high quality software engineers don’t move to the U.S., allowing the center of gravity of the industry to shift out of the U.S. You seem to think that H1-B visas made the US the center of the tech world. It didn't. The US was the center of the world long before H1-B visas existed. Besides, if such a shift were possible, why wouldn't india hold onto their workers and become the center of the industry? Because India is incapable of being the center of anything. What region has the geopolitical clout along financial, cultural, scientific and military importance to become the center of the tech industry? India? Europe? China? Laughable isn't it?

innagadadavida 11mo ago

> I’m predicting that the uncertainty and discouragement of H1-Bs will lead to a destruction of jobs in the U.S. and a suppression of salaries as high quality software engineers don’t move to the U.S., allowing the center of gravity of the industry to shift out of the U.S. Statistically speaking if you take a bunch of low-mid level salary / skill folks and move them out of US, the average salary should increase no? R&D jobs in countries like India is still low compared to US. These are the high skill and pay jobs and they will continue to be here.

JumpCrisscross 11mo ago

> predicting that the uncertainty and discouragement of H1-Bs will lead to a destruction of jobs in the U.S. Do we have any studies pointing one way or another? Given AI’s existing effects on junior demand, and the post-Covid normalization of remote work (and thus multi-shore teams), I could see the effect going either way.

toomuchtodo 11mo ago

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45305623 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45305623 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42454509 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42454509