Thread: We need more guest workers

First, Bush will not decide anything related to H-1B workers - that's up to Congress. And, why they raise the cap has nothing to do with need. Just look at history. Starting with the dot-com crash, American tech workers (not just programmers) experienced massive and widespread layoffs. Just about then, Congress raised the H-1B cap to around 200K - and left it there for three years untill it sunsetted (otherwise it would be at almost 200K still). So, we were being laid off by the hundreds of thousands, while foreign workers were being brought in by the hundreds of thousands at the same time. If that's not a definition of insanity I don't know what it is. That era had nothing to do with any domestic need for more skilled laborers. The mass layoffs freed up much native talent, much of which was never absorbed back into the skilled labor pool, but was instead forced to take lower-level 'survival' jobs. And it wasn't long before we started seeing job postings demanding 'current' experience. That means, if you gave up and took a non-tech job, you were not welcome back, even if you had gone to school or training.

PhredE,

Okay, you are against the H1B program.
But why ? Do you want a total immigration stop ?
Get real, this will never happen.
The only legal way " independent " immigrants can come here is under an H1B. And I did answer ur question you kept asking.

I don't know about immigration laws and stuff, all I point out is that there are so many jobs available and this combined with a low unemployment rate I know we need foreign workers.

Because there is a lack of high skilled American workers, why would we need an H1B visa in the first place if we didn't need foreigners. Think about it

No. The relationship you imply between [labor - eg. H1b] need and number of applications does not exist.

From [VERY, VERY] basic statistics... I do *assume* you've had a course or two in those, yes??? .... A RELATIONSHIP DOES NOT IMPLY CAUSATION

And, I'd go one step further in arguing that there is no relationship - perhaps even a NEGATIVE relationship between number of visa applications vs. actual labor need.

I hope you improve the quality of your input in the debate. You are beginning to bore me, and are becoming a tax upon our efforts here.

Nobody said no immigration, although some people propose a moratorium of sorts until we can absorb the immigrants we have -in the last couple of decades we have been innundated with both legal and illegal immigration.

The H-1B is not an immigration visa. It's a temporary work visa. Many people hope to use it as such, but there is no guarantee.

NOOOOOO!!

Re:

immigrants can come here is under an H1B.

An H1b visa is NOT an immigration visa. It is a WORK visa ONLY!!!!

I don't know about immigration laws and stuff,

No, now you tell me. I would have never of guessed.

So let me paraphrase - for the benefit of our members / posters here - what has just transpired:

We have affluent probably younger person, studying in the EU (International Business / Economics), 'visiting our board to proclaim the [presumed, unquestioning] "need" for foreign workers for the US [generally], but more importantly, I assume, for this person's family business.

Further, the presumed shortage of workers cannot be filled by domestic / US citizen workforce - but must, yes MUST people - be filled by persons from outside the US.... Despite the inconvenient fact, that there *is* unemployment amongst US technical/IT people (at a rate HIGHER than that of the overall US unemployment rate...) but same said individual now proclaims a sudden lack of knowledge or understanding about the subject matter which drew said individual here in the first place.
OooooK.

I'll tell you personally, that you are the sort of person I really do not like, and certainly do not like calling a 'fellow American'.

Please go away and destroy someone else's country now, please???

Most of you are employees, and not employers.
You people don't understand what you're talking about.
You don't see the bigger picture.
We need more foreign workers, because there is a lack of American workers. Our population is aging, who is going to pay when you retire ?

I read that, it tells me all I need to know about you. So debating you is not worth my time or effort. Speaking of not knowing of what you speak of.....heh

My kids watch this show on MTV called "Sweet 16"...Post kind of reminds me of that.

"It used to be so much easier to get interviews, I can remember, not so long ago. Now the norm is to see ads with everything that fits you except your picture, so you send in your application according to their stated preferences and ...... nothing. Many ads are fake, posted to justify the hiring of a foreign worker who is already onsite, doing the job (see Cohen and Griggsby) "

You know, Betsy, it's obvious you're been through this because you always say it the best. That's exactly it - here's yesterday's example:

Wanted: A person with experience using spectrophotometry to analyze nano-sized sol-gel particles after synthesis. So I wrote in "Wow what a great fit I would be for this position. My master's involved all spectrophotographic technics known and I created sol-gel nanophase particles for my PhD research and was published in scientific journals for both studies (see links). Also I have the Office 2003 certification you are looking for. I look forward to hearing from you"

The thing is, I WON'T even get a thank you for applying. I'm pissing in the wind every time. People like sara make it worse by not understanding that we are being discriminated against. The resume-inflation among H1Bs is rampant!! All I see are jobs that were already filled by a foreigner and "advertised" for legal reasons. That means I keep seeing what I'm missing! They don't post salaries either so if you ask for an appropriate amount, well you've priced yourself out and into the circular file you go, but if you low-ball to compete with foreigners - well must be something wrong with you. You see, economists do okay because they shuffle numbers for a living. Those of us who want to DO something that creates value face a lot of roadblocks. We don't need this many H1Bs, especially in IT. Get a clue and remember it was Americans who invented all this technology we supposedly need help using.

"We need more guest workers"

Ron Paul is open to this and has said this many times.
Once the welfare state is gone the borders will open wide

And all this nonsense about our workforce aging. Everyone knows that half the baby boomers can't afford to retire and the other half don't want to (well, my ballpark estimate, anyway). Retirement ages are going up (see social security). People are living longer and staying healthy longer. There's even a saying "50 is the new 30". No, our workforce isn't going anywhere any time soon. If someone does, it's often to another job. A lot of this ageist propaganda comes from places where they still have rigid ideas about life cycles. I was over on another board where they were saying how Asian companies will rarely consider a candidate over 32 for a tech job.