emc/h1-b

[sethg at ropine.com (Seth Gordon)]

On Thu, 2003-06-26 at 12:34, Charles Peterman wrote: 
> 
> Employers go for H1-B/L1's because they can get them cheap, easy to
> manipulate, and easy to get rid of.  Mire them in the same red-tape mess
> that manipulating a citizen requires and you will see a quick drop in
> new H1-B's.

And an increase in the number of high-tech work that is simply
contracted out to people living outside the US.  At least when a
non-citizen is living in the US on an H1-B visa, he or she is
contributing to the tax base and spending money to buy local services. 

And if, somehow, US companies were not able to hire overseas contracting
firms, then their non-US competitors would be happy to do so, and the
competitors sell cheaper products or services to the rest of the world. 

Changes in international trade have done people (in the IT field and in
many others) some real harm, and I certainly support government efforts
(extended unemployment insurance, job-training programs) to ameliorate
that harm.  But those are just stopgaps.  American high-tech workers
compete on a world market, and the rest of the world is getting more
competitive.  If you want to stay in this business, you have to put some
effort into improving *your own* competitive advantage.

-- 
"I'm sure that nobody here would dream of misusing the Arpanet.  It's as
unthinkable as fornication, or smoking pot."  --Richard M. Stallman
// seth gordon // sethg at ropine.com // http://ropine.com/sethg/cv.html //