Until the employment of citizens is at 100% there should be no h-1b employees. I am very qualified for many tech jobs, but with some it is impossible to get even an interview; that should not be the case.
Look around at any place that lives off of government grants, and look at the make-up of who gets that money. In stem related fields i would say that it is well under 50% citizens, and under 20% white citizens. Just walk around in a research facility at UCLA or any major research university; the faculty are not american, the researchers are not american, BUT it is all funded by america.
Well...no. But I understand the sentiment. What if you needed 100 people to work in your specific industry but there's only 80 in the US. There's no way to meet 100% employment and cover all business needs.
And before you rage reply about how the system is abused to hire foreigners for cheap, I know. But 100% employment has little to do with what visas were intended for.
so what is the reason there were only 80? could 20 more be trained? are there 20 american students studying a related field that you could convince to learn the required material in exchange for jobs when they were done?
We both know the answers to these questions; if the h-1bs dried up the companies would go back to how they were and they would have plenty of employees.
Well no, you can't just train anyone to do anything. And you can't always wait for graduates either. Not to mention that they may not even want to work for your company. Your view of the world doesn't exist.
I'm not saying you're wrong, but if there is work so specific to a small number of highly specialized people, then the company needing this work is too niche to rely on organically finding qualified employees. This almost guarantees that they would need to hire close but not fully qualified people and bring them up to skill. What could possibly be so urgent and demanding that there isn't time to train people to the required level. Your scenario sounds unrealistic and any company demanding such things is probably greatly exaggerating their need or their technology. Companies need to remember that people are not a resource to be bought when they need them. If there are only 80 qualified American citizens to do the job, then instead of simply looking abroad for foreign workers, they need to adjust their ambitions and make sure they properly entice their would-be domestic candidates before complaining that they can't get the workers they need. It's a market. Employees must be invested in not simply bought like cattle or widgets. This mindset is what is wrong with corporate interests these days. We don't need a visa program to fix this. We need a return to our senses and sensibilities. Let the other nations keep their qualified people and have them turn their shithole country into a competitor so everyone gets a better opportunity. Their nations are not employee farms that grow talent for American corporate money.
i didn't say "train anyone to do anything". For example, could a chemistry PhD do the work of a chemical engineer with a little bit of on the job training? Could a math PhD who spent 8 years coding for their work transition to programming for a company?
There is only one job that i know of that is so specialized that very few people can do it, and few can be trained, and that is the splicing and insulating by hand of high voltage cables. There are seriously like a handful of guys (i can actually say guys here because it is 100%) in the world who can do it, and they are flown all over for it. It would be a great use for an H-1B
If you name a common H-1B job i bet i could name an underemployed group of people who could be trained for it quickly.
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peacegnome ago
Until the employment of citizens is at 100% there should be no h-1b employees. I am very qualified for many tech jobs, but with some it is impossible to get even an interview; that should not be the case.
Look around at any place that lives off of government grants, and look at the make-up of who gets that money. In stem related fields i would say that it is well under 50% citizens, and under 20% white citizens. Just walk around in a research facility at UCLA or any major research university; the faculty are not american, the researchers are not american, BUT it is all funded by america.
piratse ago
Well...no. But I understand the sentiment. What if you needed 100 people to work in your specific industry but there's only 80 in the US. There's no way to meet 100% employment and cover all business needs.
And before you rage reply about how the system is abused to hire foreigners for cheap, I know. But 100% employment has little to do with what visas were intended for.
peacegnome ago
so what is the reason there were only 80? could 20 more be trained? are there 20 american students studying a related field that you could convince to learn the required material in exchange for jobs when they were done?
We both know the answers to these questions; if the h-1bs dried up the companies would go back to how they were and they would have plenty of employees.
piratse ago
Well no, you can't just train anyone to do anything. And you can't always wait for graduates either. Not to mention that they may not even want to work for your company. Your view of the world doesn't exist.
Morbo ago
I'm not saying you're wrong, but if there is work so specific to a small number of highly specialized people, then the company needing this work is too niche to rely on organically finding qualified employees. This almost guarantees that they would need to hire close but not fully qualified people and bring them up to skill. What could possibly be so urgent and demanding that there isn't time to train people to the required level. Your scenario sounds unrealistic and any company demanding such things is probably greatly exaggerating their need or their technology. Companies need to remember that people are not a resource to be bought when they need them. If there are only 80 qualified American citizens to do the job, then instead of simply looking abroad for foreign workers, they need to adjust their ambitions and make sure they properly entice their would-be domestic candidates before complaining that they can't get the workers they need. It's a market. Employees must be invested in not simply bought like cattle or widgets. This mindset is what is wrong with corporate interests these days. We don't need a visa program to fix this. We need a return to our senses and sensibilities. Let the other nations keep their qualified people and have them turn their shithole country into a competitor so everyone gets a better opportunity. Their nations are not employee farms that grow talent for American corporate money.
xberb ago
A logical answer on Voat, weird.
Usually it's just 'muh jerbs, damn injans'
The fact is there are people willing to work harder for less money than you, sucks to suck, but that's the free market.
peacegnome ago
i didn't say "train anyone to do anything". For example, could a chemistry PhD do the work of a chemical engineer with a little bit of on the job training? Could a math PhD who spent 8 years coding for their work transition to programming for a company?
There is only one job that i know of that is so specialized that very few people can do it, and few can be trained, and that is the splicing and insulating by hand of high voltage cables. There are seriously like a handful of guys (i can actually say guys here because it is 100%) in the world who can do it, and they are flown all over for it. It would be a great use for an H-1B
If you name a common H-1B job i bet i could name an underemployed group of people who could be trained for it quickly.
M346 ago
Yeah that's true, why do some jobs "need" a degree.