IP: Re: FIRMS GO OUTSIDE BOX, TO CONGRESS TO SOLVE HIGH-TECH WORKERSHORTAGE from Educause

[David Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> X-Sender: larry () pop walltech com (Unverified)
> Date: Sat, 15 Apr 2000 12:59:37 -0700
> To: farber () cis upenn edu
> From: Larry Tesler <larry () nomodes com>
> Subject: Re: IP: Re: FIRMS GO OUTSIDE BOX, TO CONGRESS TO SOLVE HIGH-TECH
>  WORKERSHORTAGE from Educause
>
> > From: "Ralph Sierra" <ralph.sierra () erols com>
> >
> > ...  And let's own up to another fact, companies bring
> > foreign workers in because they can get them for a third less than hiring
> > American workers - plus (typical of American management's short-term
> > thinking) they figure they may need to dump these workers in a year, and
> > getting rid of foreigners will be easier than getting rid of Americans.
> > But, of course, the sky isn't falling, and the foreign workers end up
> > staying until they get their green card.  Meanwhile, Americans don't get
> > these important jobs as congress continues to do the bidding of American
> > corporations.
>
> If Ralph or anyone has objective statistical data to support these 
> assertions, not rumor or surmise, I'd like to see it.
>
> I think the well-known statistics speak for themselves. Employers 
> don't leave hundreds of thousands of jobs open to fool Congress into 
> approving larger visa caps. Desperate to fill jobs and stay 
> competitive, they would hire anyone semi-qualified or trainable.
>
> Can employers get foreign workers for a third less than American 
> workers? We surely would if we were allowed to do so. But as an 
> employer, I can't get an H-1B visa for a worker unless I agree to 
> pay him or her according to published tables of prevailing salaries. 
> I have to state the salary on the visa application.
>
> If I want to offer stock options to entice workers to work for less 
> than prevailing pay scales, I can only interest American workers in 
> this trade-off. The government won't let me reduce the pay of 
> foreign workers below prevailing levels, even if I grant them 
> options.
>
> One foreign worker for whom I got an H-1B visa never appeared for 
> work. I lost over four months of recruiting time and thousands of 
> dollars of legal expense. And his salary was no lower than American 
> workers of similar skill. Did I recruit him to save money? Nobody 
> else remotely qualified applied. I finally did find an American who 
> could do the job. He had not been available earlier. He did not 
> "need" the job. He left a few months later and took another.
>
> If I want to save money by using foreign workers, the only way I can 
> do it is to contract with a company based in a country with much 
> lower pay scales, and have the work done over there. That would not 
> help the U.S. economy. It would only increase the trade deficit. 
> Hiring a foreign worker keeps the money here. The money is taxed and 
> spent here. The money creates new jobs for people with skills that 
> we do have in this country. That is why, after years of raising visa 
> caps, unemployment is at record low levels.
>
> Yes, it would be great if Americans who currently support their 
> families by working in restaurant kitchens, driving taxis, or being 
> bank tellers could get jobs as operating system engineers and VLSI 
> designers. But for most of them, there is no way to get there from 
> here in this life.
>
> The situation would be different if more American students chose 
> technical paths in their schooling and in their career. But many 
> would rather be VC's, lawyers, and employers.
>
> I have a foreign engineer in my company, masters degree in C.S., for 
> whom we are trying to get a green card. If we do not succeed, he 
> will have to leave the country after a few years. All my investment 
> in his development will benefit some foreign competitor. Am I 
> suffering from short-term thinking?
>
> Many European workers expect to take off the month of August. 
> American workers tend to take shorter vacations, which has less 
> impact on schedules. This is yet another reason to hire American--if 
> I could only find enough American engineers looking for work.
>
> Is it easier to dump a foreign worker? Try to lay off an American 
> Silicon Valley engineer, or even look at him wrong, and before the 
> week is out, he has a higher-paying job in a startup about to do an 
> IPO. Lay off a foreign worker, and he can't work for two to eight 
> months because his new employer has to go through the visa 
> application process. It would always be two months if we removed 
> visa caps. But it would still be harder to do than laying off an 
> American worker, at least here in Silicon Valley.
>
> The situation Ralph describes is the opposite of the reality I have 
> experienced in my current company, and previously at Apple.
>
> Larry