Weak economy, anti-immigrant sentiment hit H-1B visa program
Although employers in just one day snapped up all 65,000 available visas, would-be immigrants filed only 46,700 petitions for employment as of Sept 25?about six months after employers scopped up the visas.
By Rick Nelson, Editor-in-Chief -- EDN, November 26, 2009
The woeful employment picture in the United States is resulting in thousands of unfilled spots in the H-1B visa program for the first time since 2003, according to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal (Reference 1). Although employers in just one day snapped up all 65,000 available visas, would-be immigrants filed only 46,700 petitions for employment as of Sept 25—about six months after employers scooped up the visas.
The article notes that, in addition to the weak economy, rising anti-immigrant sentiment in Washington and the higher costs of hiring foreign-born workers are also taking their toll on the visa program. Indian outsourcing companies such as HCL have traditionally been the largest recipients of H-1B visas, according to the article, but HCL has been hiring Americans who otherwise may have faced layoffs from companies switching work to HCL.
Would-be immigrants are also finding more opportunities at home. The article quotes Vivek Wadhwa, a scholar who has studied H-1B visas, as saying, “The best and the brightest who would normally come here are saying, 'Why do we need to go to a country where we are not welcome, … our quality of life would be less, and we would be at the bottom of the social ladder?’”
I commented on the trend for foreign nationals to stay home when I reported on a study Wadhwa conducted for the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation (reference 2 and reference 3). The study notes that immigrant-founded US-based companies employed 450,000 workers and generated $52 billion in revenue in 2006. The WSJ article quotes Microsoft general council Brad Smith as saying that 35% of Microsoft’s US patent applications last year came from new inventions by visa and green-card holders.
“While some have tried to associate the increase in foreign workers ... with the economic problems that have plagued the country, this data verifies the opposite effect,” said Wadhwa when the Kauffman Foundation released its study. “If the US government and the business community could find better ways to offer good jobs in tandem with less restrictive visa policies for talented immigrants, the United States might be able to recapture many of these immigrants and their potential to help grow the US economy.”
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Companies such as Microsoft that benefit from the visa program contend that the current slump in the program demonstrates that the market, not Congress, should determine how many immigrants should be allowed to work in the United States. The WSJ article quotes Jenifer Verdery, director of work-force policy at Intel, as saying that the fact that the cap hasn’t been reached this year shows that the market will temper demand.
There seems to be bipartisan disagreement in Congress with that position. As the WSJ reports, Senator Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, wrote a letter to the new director of citizenship and immigration services, urging tighter controls on H-1B visas. In April, Grassley and Illinois Democrat Senator Richard Durbin introduced legislation to require companies to pass more stringent labor-market tests that would ensure they make a bigger effort to hire US workers.
The H-1B visa program is valuable, and, as the Kauffman Foundation study points out, immigrants have contributed disproportionately to the US economy’s high-tech sector. If Americans are unwilling or unable to contribute their fair share, then it will be important to US economic success to attract talent from overseas. There is a role for Congress to play to provide further safeguards so that cheaper workers from abroad don’t displace motivated, qualified Americans. If Congress can ensure Americans that the program works as intended, political support for expanding the program might grow.
Contact me at rnelson@reedbusiness.com.
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No one is buying your lies anymore. All you are doing is enraging out of work Americans which will lead to the demise of this horrible program. When people get angry enough, change usually follows so thank you for helping to end the H-1B program.
Paul Revere - 2009-28-11 07:55:00 PST -
H1b's create jobs and smoking cigarettes is good for you. I have a study that says both.
Marlboro - 2009-27-11 16:36:00 PST -
The facts are that the H1b/L1 visa programs have led to over 7 million US jobs being lost. HCL has even stated they "will never hire an American". Your article is fake.
John Blankley - 2009-27-11 16:33:00 PST -
Dear Dick, you are so full of curry. You seriously believe the material you write?
" If Americans are unwilling or unable to contribute their fair share, then it will be important to US economic success to attract talent from overseas." Do you investigate material you write? Have you bothered to reference any other resource which is not pro H1B? Have you looked in the mirror lately without turning red and hanging your head from shame?
Kaz - 2009-26-11 15:47:00 PST -
Thanks. At least there is a group not is big business' pocket. Good post.
Kaz - 2009-26-11 15:38:00 PST
