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It is a hard problem, but there isn't enough evidence to link legal immigration to the shortages and unemployment that you have cited. It is as easy to say "the
by shas3 12y ago
It is a hard problem, but there isn't enough evidence to link legal immigration to the shortages and unemployment that you have cited. It is as easy to say "there is some unemployment, so we should make life difficult for non-immigrant aliens, that'll fix it" as it is to say "the sun goes around the earth because we see it go across the sky." It is not clear if you can draw a causation between restrictive (or unfair policies, as it currently stands) immigration and improved employment rates. The debate will be better informed if you can cite studies that say fixing alien-worker policies fixes employment (to any extent). Here's a (partisan) starting point: https://www.uschamber.com/blog/guest-post-economic-impact-high-skilled-immigration-reform https://www.uschamber.com/blog/guest-post-economic-impact-hi...
- donw 12y agoThe problem as I see it is that H1B isn't really immigration; it's even classified as a "non-immigrant" visa, created so that companies can temporarily employ foreign workers. H1B holders are effectively tied to their employers. Sure, they can in theory find other jobs, but the timeframes and restrictions are very different to those of an actual immigrant. Immigration of talented people would be fine. I would love to see a merit-based system. But the H1B system is hardly immigration.
- cesarbs 12y agoKeep in mind that many companies start sponsoring an H-1B employee's Green Card as soon as they start working at the company. When considering those companies, H-1B is about immigration.
- droopyEyelids 12y agoDo the huge consulting firms that hire 80% of H-1Bs start sponsoring green cards? Because I believe that 80% of companies could sponsor their H-1Bs, while still sponsoring a tiny minority of visa holders.
- unprepare 12y agoI don't mean to imply that restricting H1Bvisas would solve our unemployment by any means. I was just trying to explain why a lot of people here seem suspicious of the motives behind companies hiring H1Bs.