The minimum wage for H1B visa recipients is $60,000, unchanged from 1989. Let me emphasize that for you. Our government is permitting companies to bring in foreign skilled labor at 1989 wages, completely undercutting the American workforce and driving down wages.
Today President Trump signed an executive order to reform the program.
“Right now, H-1B visas are awarded in a totally random lottery — and that’s wrong,” said Trump.
Annually, there is a quota of 85,000 new visas, with 20,000 reserved for master’s degree holders. To give you an idea how voracious an appetite American tech firms have for foreign labor, this was the fifth year in a row the cap had been met within 5 days.
The order was seen as a ceremonial media event, having little to no bearing on actual law. In order to effect real change, congress will need to change the law.
Tucker Carlson took on Mark Cuban to discuss the law — who is supportive of the H1b visas because MUH American exceptionalism and MUH capitalism. While against ‘hoarding’ visas, Cuban is supportive of the program because it allows American companies to hire skilled labor.
Tucker retorted, ‘that’s the talking point, and it makes sense […], but the reality, as you know, is 80% of foreigners admitted under H1b make less than the median income in which the work. In other words, they’re being brought over, not because of their skills, but because they save labor costs. That’s a subversion of the idea.’
Cuban’s reply was to blame the visa hoarders on causing the problem, saying ‘that’s wrong, that’s not at the core of the H1b visa.’
Then Cuban twisted himself into a pretzel, saying ‘But when it comes to competing for the best talent around the world, I’m a big believer in American exceptionalism. I believe we can compete. When we can’t get the job, we get smarter. Work harder, get smarter, you’ll get it the next time around. I think that’s good for everybody.’
WTF? What sort of bullshit was Mark chewing on before spewing out this nonsense? But what about the wage gap, Mark?
Tucker weighed in, ‘except in a lot of those cases, we don’t get smarter, we get unemployed.’ Tucker went on to explain that over 40% of college graduates describe themselves as underemployed. He added, ‘so we have a massive labor pool that’s educated in our system (Cuban nodding), and yet they’re being turned away in favor of people who are being educated abroad. That does not help America in any way.’
(awkward silence, death blow delivered)
The government has an obligation to protect American jobs. By plainly stating that the religion of capitalism can do no wrong and that ‘market forces’ will lead the path towards utopia is rhetoric. By creating loopholes that lower wages, literally taking away jobs from skilled American labor, is the very definition of abdication of duty, in some cases treasonous.
The biggest H1B visa sponsors are:
Infosys
Cap Gemini
Tata Consulting
IBM
Wipro
Accenture
Tech Mahindra
Deloitte
Cognizant
Microsoft
HCL America
Google
Ernst and Young
UST Global
Larsen and Toubro
Amazon
It’s worth noting, many of those companies are consultants, who then used the skilled labor to work on projects on behalf of their fortune 500 clients. In others words, they’re merely gatekeepers, obfuscating the true nature of how pervasive this program is in the American workforce.
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So the story is, we bring is low skilled to do the work Americans won’t do, and high skilled, to do the work Americans can’t do. Uh huh. Got it.
Yes. The rest of us are stockbrokers, living off meager $400k salaries.
When you replace entry level and mid level IT jobs with outsourcing companies you destroy the ability of new grads to be mentored and enter the field while driving real talent away to only the top paying areas and companies.
It’s short term thinking where top execs get large bonuses by playing CapEx/OpEx spreadsheet games.
The long term value of the company is destroyed. Those outsourcing companies are only concerned with checking off boxes and doing billable work.
Organizational knowledge is lost and “quality” is a sick joke.
Means it isn’t worth spending 150k ‘Mercun dollars to get a 4 year degree in computer science.
I’d rather speculate on tech companies then work for them.
Why is that?
Because a dishonestly characterized visa program to recruit the “best and brightest” is instead being used to import cheap labor?
They call that fraud in most places.
It doesn’t matter. So the jobs will be outsourced instead. Makes no sense for companies to pay more than they have to. Everybody wants free shit (apps, services) and at the same time investors want profitable companies. Can’t have it both ways.
Sac, it’s amazing how your wrong on every damn issue.
Umm, yes you can have it both ways. Companies want to have workers on campus for oversight. We are literally undercutting our own workforce for foreign labor.
This is crony capitalism. End it.
Middle office & back office jobs at banks are full of Indians on visas as well.
Banks have started specifically moving to the middle of nowhere, shutting down their American workforce, and rehiring for the same jobs from visa holders at tremendously low rates.
Bosses like to see asses in seats. It’s a control thing that outsourcing can’t remedy. This iT pro thinks it’s about time this crap ended.
If you don’t work in the office, the company may realize they don’t need to pay middle management. We can’t have that…
Tucker did a good job with this interview. And ole’ MC coughed and stuttered his way out of it. …so why did MC agree to do the interview? Mmm hmm. These F500 consulting firms are body shops. It’s true.
100 percent agree with your take here Fly. If corporations had full control the borders would be wide open and the majority of people would have their wages driven down to poverty level.
These tech companies are laying off Americans making 120k to bring in Indian workers at 60k. Totally profit driven.
“Totally profit driven.”
Monsters!
WTF?
so your ok with flying Indian IT people to the USA to replace amrican workers in their own country??
WTF to you
Yep, open the doors and let companies hire them at the best wage for which they can get them. An American worker should still command a bit more because they better know the language and culture in which they work
…of course the PC police will be a problem if they are in fact paid a penny less than a native, but that’s another battle.
Having said the above, I prefer that we accept these high skilled workers as citizens so that they aren’t sending their money home.
Then why have boarders?
In a free market you can quit and get a better paying job that matches your talent.
The H1-B visa prevents this and makes visa holders indentured servants.
Indentured servitude is not capitalism.
How about this? There are many college grads that would gladly go to work for $60k. The problem is they are simply not as good as the Indian kid. If you are MSFT, do you hire the snowflake or the machine?
This is not true
Why should American citizens have to compete with foreigners for their jobs in their own country. If that’s the case your all screwed because we can bring in engineers l, doctors, dentists, architects, you name it. And then it’s a race to the bottom for pay. The uber rich get richer and everyone else lives like serfs.
The 13th Amendment makes indentured servitude illegal so I guess we’ll see the shills try to repeal that soon.
Go long the serfdom and indentured servitude trade!
I don’t disagree with you. This has nothing to do with capitalism; it’s a government program. All I’m saying is if we are going to have a program and predetermine the minimum wage, the F500 companies will exploit it and hire smart foreigners. Frankly, good thing this is just a program.
Raising the minimum wage for H1B doesn’t really solve the problem BTW. All you have then is foreigners “stealing” &120k jobs instead of $60k jobs
There is no incentive to bring those workers in at the same rate an American makes
That is correct, but there is less if them at 120k. You help more US citizens. That’s supposed to be the govt’s role. Of course you risk the companies off shoring all their labor except the executive offices.
Now you’re starting to get it.
This is a case of the government selling out their own people and bowing to the tech lobby. Funny that people on this site give 0 fucks about keeping a middle class.
Boarders are to keep undesired persons out. Open the boarders to these high-skilled workers. Make them pay payroll taxes, etc. …the benefits of which will go, not to them, but to fund deserving retiring baby boomers in need of a second home in Florida.
Uhhh… free markets and shit.
If Rajesh from Bangalore can do the job and is willing to do it for 50% less than Tyler from Spokane then tough shit Tyler. Because as mentioned before Free Markets and shit.
The Republican way you know.
If he can’t quit and get more across the street that’s called indentured servitude.
Usually bad for society.
Google it.
Cuban needs to stop with that plastic surgery bullshit he is almost unwatchable
same going on in Canuckistan. Except the “spirit” of the visa program was supposed to be for jobs that the locals did not want to do, like picking fruit and vegetables and other tasks. Unfortunately, some of the big banks were caught downsizing local tech jobs and using far east and Indian tech people instead under a similar program.