<The median general salary is much lower than even the tech industry's supposed depressed wages> My point is that it doesn't make sense to compare a skillset l

<The median general salary is much lower than even the tech industry's supposed depressed wages> My point is that it doesn't make sense to compare a skillset like engineering to the median. You'd need to compare it to the kind of salary someone capable of engineering would be able to earn in another field. Salaries for a field can be higher than the median and still be lower than they would be in the absence of an H1B program. <Then why aren't people scrambling to become engineers like they did to become realtors or at least encouraging their children to become engineers?> I didn't notice anyone scrambling to get their kids into the real estate business. But maybe the reason they don't encourage their kids into engineering is that they've seen that a similar or lesser effort in other fields would have a bigger payout? <Also it's not clear to me why you bring in PhD and master's. Most engineers in tech don't have those degrees.> I brought this up because it was used in the original article that promoted this thread. It is often used to justify the need for an H1B program.