Mother Jones: How H1B Visas Screw Tech Workers

[pnwmom]

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/02/silicon-valley-h1b-visas-hurt-tech-workers

A few years ago, the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer informed hundreds of tech workers at its Connecticut R&D facilities that they'd soon be laid off. Before getting their final paychecks, however, they'd need to train their replacements: guest workers from India who'd come to the United States on H-1B visas. "It's a very, very stressful work environment," one soon-to-be-axed worker told Connecticut's The Day newspaper. "I haven't been able to sleep in weeks."

SNIP

Of course, the big tech companies claim H-1B workers are their last resort, and that they can't find qualified Americans to fill jobs. Pressing to raise the visa cap last year, Microsoft pointed to 6,000 job openings at the company.

Yet if tech workers are in such short supply, why are so many of them unemployed or underpaid? According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), tech employment rates still haven't rebounded to pre-recession levels. And from 2001 to 2011, the mean hourly wage for computer programmers didn't even increase enough to beat inflation.

The ease of hiring H-1B workers certainly hasn't helped. More than 80 percent of H-1B visa holders are approved to be hired at wages below those paid to American-born workers for comparable positions, according to EPI. Experts who track labor conditions in the technology sector say that older, more expensive workers are particularly vulnerable to being undercut by their foreign counterparts. "You can be an exact match and never even get a phone call because you are too expensive," says Norman Matloff, a computer science professor at the University of California-Davis. "The minute that they see you've got 10 or 15 years of experience, they don't want you."

[antigop]

1. ahem...some of us have been saying this for years. And we can thank Hillary...

[pnwmom]

3. This was going on way before Hillary. nt

[antigop]

4. she supported an increase in the limit and co-founded the Senate India Caucus with CORNYN.

[antigop]

2. but thanks for posting so people realize the ramifications of the race to the bottom. Anyone who

makes a decent salary needs to look out.

[Slit Skirt]

6. yes, lost my job and.....now I am making 8 per hour

[antigop]

8. so sorry...it's happened too many times to the tech community. nt

[OhioChick]

10. I'm so terribly sorry to hear this

And know of several that are in similar situations.

I wish you the best.

[Slit Skirt]

5. yep...that's how I lost my job

[pnwmom]

7. So sorry to hear that! n/t

[antigop]

9. sorry...Slit Skirt. So sorry. Those of us who haven't been hit by this yet have to keep looking

over our shoulder.