Thread by @ideafaktory

@LinkedIn @LinkedInToday The H-1B is profoundly broken. It doesn't need to be cut, but reformed.

A rebuttal to this piece (from firsthand experience managing a global team with H-1B's at a F100 US corporation.:

bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…

(thread)

H-1Bs don't officially make workers indentured & underpaid; just unofficially. Workers can only switch to other companies that will pay to sponsor visas. Many don't. So:
- That reduced market
- Extra cost
- Transactional friction

Limit their options & pay.

Because many H1B workers arrive without families (or at least extended families), they tend to work longer hours, so companies get more bang for the buck.

How much buck?

Since most H-1Bs from India or China come from MUCH lower base salaries - and most companies calculate salaries based on some combo of past earnings & peer earnings, H-1B's end up **consistently** towards the lower half of the salary band.

"Finally, the H1-B process..exclusively favors giant companies..It forces all applications to start submissions in March. They usually run out by June. BUT — employees can't start work until OCTOBER! What small company can afford that..delay? Very few." linkedin.com/pulse/20130524…

On top of that, a handful of H-1B visa hoarder middlemen handle most of the supply, favoring existing huge clients.

The reforms needed:
1) Tax H1B employers to pay in for training domestic workers to close the hiring gap.

2) Eliminate favoritism, middlemen & time lag in the process. Let workers start right after approval. Give smaller companies more options.

3) Remove friction: make it easier for H-1B talent to switch jobs & stay in the US.

4) Develop a domestic competitiveness strategy for what skills to develop domestically or import & at what scale.

Smart immigration policy, something we haven't had in ages, looks at demand, creates good incentives & eliminates unnecessary friction.

Though I have no direct evidence, I've heard from reliable sources that some companies have unofficial agreements not poach each other's H-1B's. I'll leave that to journalists to sort out. But don't assume it's far-fetched: mercurynews.com/2019/05/24/whe…

PS: I don't disagree with the general thesis here: skilled immigrants ARE good for the economy.

My main issue is w/this part. The program is poorly designed & while it doesn't "hurt native-born Americans" TODAY, it does so by not investing in domestic skills for the #future.

It would be interesting to see where we'd have been over the past 10 years if a 10% levy (within the likely underpayment range of H1B workers) was placed on H1B salaries to fund adult STEM training.

No illusions, though. Foreign workers tend to be hungrier & harder working...

Oh, H-1Behave Yourself!

Thoughts from the corporate trenches with the broken H-1B visa.

#jobs #tech #immigration #work #economy

ideafaktory.com/h1b