Harmful effects of the H-1B/Foreign Worker Programs!

The H-1B program has, over the years, proven to be one of the more harmful visa programs impacting America's highly educated workers. Unscrupulous employers looking for cheap and vulnerable labor will bend the rules to fill jobs with foreign workers.The American taxpayers whose dollars support public universities, tech workers whose wages are deflated, and older tech workers who are discriminated against bear the burden of H-1B abuses.

• American taxpayers are forced to support extremely expensive research universities whose main purpose is to train students from abroad - many of whom will stay here and take jobs that could have gone to Americans (CalTech Vice Provost David Goodstein, 1993)
• A study by Rutgers University released in October 2009 found that while the U.S. is still producing enough skilled graduates in core STEM disciplines to fill industry needs, many highly qualified U.S. students in STEM fields leave the "pipeline" from STEM college major to STEM career possibly based on perceptions that STEM careers are highly susceptible to offshoring. [Lowell, B. Lindsay, Harold Salzman, Hamutal Bernstein, and Everett Henderson. Steady as She Goes? Three Generations of Students through the Science and Engineering Pipeline. Publication. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University, 2009. Print. Pg. 31]
• We stifle innovation by replacing older workers (over 35) before their inventions can be turned into practical revenue generators (Gene Nelson)
• The H-1B program is rife with abuse, enabling employers to avoid hiring U.S. Workers (see corresponding factsheet)
  • According to the Department of Labor's 2006 Strategic Plan, "H-1B workers may be hired even when a qualified U.S. worker wants the job, and a U.S. worker can be displaced from the job in favor of the foreign worker."
  • The violation rate in the H-1B program is 21 percent. Among employers with 25 or fewer employees it is 54 percent. (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services "H-1B Benefit Fraud & Compliance Assessment" September 2008)
• Eight out of the top ten companies that use the H-1B visa lottery are not U.S. firms but Indian outsourcing companies who do not even keep their employees in the U.S. (Ephraim Schwartz)
  • India's commerce minister, Kamal Nath, has called the H-1B the "outsourcing visa." (Ron Hira, Rochester Institute of Technology, Economic Policy Institute)
  • The Indian media is remarkably candid about the H-1B visa program, regularly touting the benefits of cheap labor that H-1B provides.
• Stagnating wages (as employers reduce labor costs) reduces the purchasing power of highly-skilled workers (James Carlini, adjunct professor at Northwestern University)
  • H-1B holders are paid less than Americans: most are paid in the $60,000 range when the top talents (the "best and brightest") make more than $100,000 - indicating that the vast majority of H-1B holders have comparable skill levels to their American counterparts, but come at a cheaper price. (Norm Matloff)
  • Prevailing wage claims for computer workers average $18,000 a year below the actual median wage for the same occupation. Employers may be understating what U.S. computer workers are earning in order to justify paying lower wages to H-1B visa holders. (Center for Immigration Studies: "Low Salaries for Low Skills" April 2007)