Study Questions H-1B Policies 361
An anonymous reader writes "One of the arguments for continuing and even expanding the H1-B visa program (pdf) is that it enables highly-skilled immigrants to work in the U.S. and grow the U.S. economy. Counterarguments state that the H1-B visa program does not bring in the 'best and brightest' and is used to drive down wages, particularly in the STEM fields. This Bloomberg article, discussing pending H1-B legislation, quotes some of the salaries of current workers in the U.S. on H1-B visas: $4,800/month and $5,500/month which work out to $57,600/year and $66,000/year; only slightly higher than the average entry-level salaries of newly-graduated engineering or computer science majors."
How H1B works (Score:5, Funny)
(A board meeting, somewhere in the US. Probably Texas. 10:00am..)
CEO: We need to get our operating overhead under control! Look at all these hockey-sticks! (pointing to whiteboard)
CF0: We've already closed 500 stores, offshored 90% of our labor and manufacturing, layed off 15000 retail and customer service positions, and cut everyone else to part time so we don't have to pay benefits. There's not much more fat to trim except for...
CEO: What?
CFO: We get hold of some of those H1B visa workers. I hear they are happy to work for half of minimum wage.
CEO: How do we do that?
CF0: We cut lunchbreaks to 10 minutes, and make overtime mandatory. Also include rotating weekend shifts for everyone, including managers. We make it so miserable to work here, that people leave.
CEO: That doesn't sound like such a great plan. Who is going to run the stores?
CF0: We don't do it all at once. We do it regionally. Not everyone can afford to quit right away so there's a good chance there will be some stragglers. We promote them to managers for the time being and advertise to fill the empty positions, but advertise at half the wages the others were getting. Nobody in their right mind will take that job.
CEO: That sounds like a really dumb move. How are you going to fill those positions.
CFO: We tell the government that there isn't any available labor pool for us to hire from. We show them how nobody has applied for the listings, so we need to bring in H1B visa workers to fill the vacancies.
CEO: Hmm...
CFO: As an added bonus, I'm sure we can find some taxpayer dollars to subsidize our H1B visa "program".
CEO: Great! I'll be out the rest of the day yacht shopping. Hold all my calls.
Re:Qualifications (Score:4, Funny)
tl;dr: I want a 5' 8" 24 year old blonde who has an MD and paid for med school as a lingerie model.
i have an extra one of those. where should i send him?