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the H-1B visa program It was intended to bring in specialized talent from abroad, but instead became a tool for employers to hire low-cost labor for regular jobs.
The result is a distorted labor market, in which highly skilled workers are squeezed out of the H-1B visa program by unsolicited applications for rank-and-file workers who then take entry-level jobs that are already scarce. Abuse of H-1B visas has a negative relationship with growth The impact of artificial intelligence on the labor market It is part of a larger problem that urgently needs attention.
The impact of the visa farming problem is particularly acute among young people and recent college graduates, who face a bleak job market despite moderate overall unemployment rates. According to government data, the unemployment ratio between university graduates under the age of 25 to those over the age of 25 has reached an all-time high of more than four to one. This means that entry-level jobs are already four times rarer than jobs requiring advanced experience or expertise.
Applicants for the program must explicitly be people with specialized skills, and those specialized skills must not be readily available Current resident workers.
I have seen first-hand the symptoms of low demand for products Entry level technology jobs. These symptoms include fewer recruitment notices from recruiters targeting recent computer science graduates, career fairs with fewer companies, and relevant consultants getting fewer offers at lower wages or in some cases no offers at all. Granting H-1B visas to low-wage, non-specialized workers only exacerbates this scarcity while doing little to fill the actual demand for workers with specialized skills.
H-1B visas hurt one type of worker and exploit another. This mess must be fixed
The problem here is not related to the number of visas issued, but rather how they are used. Applicants for the program must explicitly be people with specialized skills, and those specialized skills must not be readily available Current resident workers. However, the bureaucratic review process allows employers to exaggerate claims and hire workers with ordinary skills at low wages. There is an entire sub-profession of HR professionals and lawyers who specialize in dressing pigeons to look like peacocks.
Abuse of the application process has created a lottery system in which workers with the special skills required often lose out to those without any specialized skills. As a result, new graduates find it difficult to get entry-level work, while companies that really need specific specialized skills cannot obtain visas for these workers. Imagine someone suffering from malnutrition and diabetes because instead of vitamins, they were munching on sugar pills.
I want to stress that I am not advocating the imposition of isolated restrictions on… Number of H-1B visas. The issue is about ensuring that people with the truly specialized skills needed are actually welcomed through the H-1B program. When used properly, the H-1B visa brings someone who complements the workforce with in-demand, specialized skills, which can benefit the entire country. Whether it is retaining a graduating international student or bringing in someone from outside the country, the United States has historically benefited greatly from immigrants with in-demand skills.
Many people who invest in visa farming unconvincingly insist that H-1B visas will actually go to specialty workers as intended, but the statistics on H-1B visa recipients don't agree with that.
Trump says he has not changed his mind on H-1B visas as debate rages within the MAGA coalition
According to the annual report from the US government's USCIS, nearly 63,000 H-1B visa recipients for 2023 were working in “computer-related occupations” and the median salary for this group was $99,000 per year, with 25% of them earning less. From $85,000. A salary of $99,000 or $85,000 per year is certainly a good amount to earn, but it is very low compared to what I would expect someone with rare specialized skills in this field to earn.
One might think that people with specialized, hard-to-find skills would be paid exceptionally well, but instead this data shows the opposite. In fact, the deeper you delve into the data in an agency's annual report, the less approved applications for exceptional people in specialized jobs appear. Looks more like some Specially skilled workers I mix with a lot of regular workers who are paid at the lower end of what I would expect.
These observations are consistent with my own experience recruiting technology workers and advising computer science students, what others have told me firsthand, and several recently published analyses. The only clear explanation I see for these discrepancies is that employers offer entry-level jobs, not those requiring rare special skills, that salaries are low even for entry-level jobs, and that non-matching applications are not rejected.
Looking at the bigger picture, abuse of H-1B visas is not the only obstacle facing job seekers in the United States because AI automation is also eliminating jobs, exacerbating scarcity. Currently, AI disproportionately impacts entry-level jobs, exacerbating problems caused by misuse of the H-1B program. However, AI will continue to improve, both in capability and ease of use, and its impact on the labor market will grow as the range of tasks that can be performed by AI expands.
The MAGA H-1B “civil war” is exactly how politics is supposed to work
While AI visa abuse and the H-1B visa may seem like two different problems, they interact in a way that most people do not appreciate. Even when it cannot completely replace the human factor, Artificial intelligence facilitates the transfer of work From regular employees to contractors or remote workers.
The explanation is that AI often eliminates the need for advanced specialized skill or knowledge, replacing it with a lower requirement of only needing to be able to review work for accuracy. The result is that tasks that were previously too complex to shift to contractors or remote workers are now simpler due to AI and more suitable for outsourcing.
As AI technology continues to improve, employers will find that more and more jobs can be done by less-skilled workers, and there will be an increasing incentive to use H-1B visas to hire these less-skilled workers on the cheap.
The H-1B visa program review process needs to be reformed to prioritize applicants with true specialized talent and to ensure that beneficiaries do not compete unfairly with workers already in the United States. We must also address the growing threat of AI automation. Impact on the labor market.
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Almost 90% of everything US tax revenues This comes from taxing the income of working individuals, so if unemployment continues to expand, tax revenues will shrink significantly. At the same time, the number of unemployed people requiring public assistance needs will rise dramatically. This combination does not work mathematically and is a clear recipe for disaster.
This situation requires radical change to avoid a dystopian future. Overall unemployment numbers may look strong, but high levels of entry-level unemployment and overall underemployment indicate that a much larger problem is developing.
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Disclaimer: Any opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author as an individual. Nothing in this article should be construed as a statement regarding the author's professional position in any organization.
