In the current immigration debate, the H1-B visa program that allows U.S. employers to hire foreign workers who have essential professional qualifications is typically discussed as a cause of lost American jobs. In my experience as a technical manager hiring highly-paid research staff, the effect is the opposite: the H1-B program helps create American jobs.
Most of my hires have been for positions requiring a doctoral degree in a STEM (science, math, technology and engineering) field and specialized mathematical expertise. After reading hundreds of resumes and interviewing over a hundred candidates, I can personally confirm that it is extremely rare to see a U.S. citizen in the applicant pool. Whether this reflects a shortage of U.S. citizens being produced by the STEM education pipeline, or a lack of desire by U.S. citizens to work in the biotech industry, even at a six-figure salary, is irrelevant. Immigration, specifically the H1-B visa program, cannot be blamed for Americans losing jobs for which they don’t apply. The cost and uncertainty associated with the visa application process already mean that non-citizen candidates are far more difficult and expensive to hire compared to their U.S. peers, but my team is only one-quarter U.S. citizens. Further restriction of the visa hiring process is not likely to cause the sudden appearance of American candidates.
The core of my company’s research organization (nearly a quarter of the company) is based on foreign talent despite the many restrictions around H1-B hiring. The research we do in molecular biology and statistical algorithms has resulted in successful biotechnology product launches that allowed the company to grow from fewer than 50 to 800 employees over eight years. These products, used by thousands of patients, simply could not have been developed without H1-B hiring. The vast majority of those 800 employees are located in the United States in areas such as sales, marketing, customer support and laboratory operations. These hundreds of jobs would not have been created without the ability to hire the specialized talent needed to develop cutting-edge products.
Despite the fact that the H1-B visa program is occasionally abused, it plays a vital role in the growth of American companies and domestic job creation. Until the U.S. education system is able to produce enough qualified candidates to staff the continued growth of the technology sector, companies must have the option of hiring foreign talent to meet their most specialized needs. The H1-B visa program provides a significant benefit to the American economy by enabling technology companies to continue to create domestic jobs and economic growth. Any reform of this program must preserve it as a method of hiring qualified candidates as well as reducing opportunities for abuse.
Dr. Ryan is senior director of statistics research and development at a Bay Area genetics company. She completed her doctoral degree at the University of California, Berkeley, played in the Cal Marching Band, and lives in Belmont. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of her employer.
Yeah, when you can pay them half of what an American can get, you can hire two. Forget about the laws. Only two prosecutions for violating the original intent of the law in the last decade, including the O years. Everyone knows certain genes are better for math than others. Oh, that can't be right.
Dr. Ryan’s plea for the H-1B reminds me of the story of the man convicted of murdering his parents. At the sentencing hearing he asked for mercy because, after all, he was an orphan. To the extent that employers cannot find local talent it is a self-inflected wound. They hired cheap foreigners instead of Americans so fewer Americans go for a PhD because the wages are too low driven down by cheap foreign labor. This was in fact known by the advocates of the H-1B when it was first proposed in the mid-1980s. At the time a National Science Foundation report advocating the H-1B in order to reduce PhD wages put it this way:
"A growing influx of foreign PhDs into U.S. labor markets will hold down the level of PhD salaries to the extent that foreign students are attracted to U.S. doctoral programs as a way of immigrating to the U.S.A. A related point is that for this group the PhD salary premium is much higher [than it is for Americans], because it is based on BS-level pay in students' home nations versus PhD-level pay in the U.S.A. .. [If] doctoral studies are failing to appeal to a large (or growing) percentage of the best citizen baccalaureates, then a key issue is pay... A number of [the Americans] will select alternative career paths... For these baccalaureates, the effective premium for acquiring a PhD may actually be negative."
That is exactly what happened. Dr. Ryan and other hiring managers have harmed the nation’s technical capability and made us dependent on foreign workers by going after cheap labor.
For the long term health of the nation the H-1B needs to be ended. Dr. Ryan and others would then have to bid up the wages of those Americans who have the needed skills. Others seeing the high wages would then have an incentive to acquire those skill sets. In others free market capitalism would supply all the needed labor just like it did before the government manipulated the market by subsidizing employers with the H-1B.
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(2) comments
Yeah, when you can pay them half of what an American can get, you can hire two. Forget about the laws. Only two prosecutions for violating the original intent of the law in the last decade, including the O years. Everyone knows certain genes are better for math than others. Oh, that can't be right.
Dr. Ryan’s plea for the H-1B reminds me of the story of the man convicted of murdering his parents. At the sentencing hearing he asked for mercy because, after all, he was an orphan. To the extent that employers cannot find local talent it is a self-inflected wound. They hired cheap foreigners instead of Americans so fewer Americans go for a PhD because the wages are too low driven down by cheap foreign labor. This was in fact known by the advocates of the H-1B when it was first proposed in the mid-1980s. At the time a National Science Foundation report advocating the H-1B in order to reduce PhD wages put it this way:
"A growing influx of foreign PhDs into U.S. labor markets will hold down the level of PhD salaries to the extent that foreign students are attracted to U.S. doctoral programs as a way of immigrating to the U.S.A. A related point is that for this group the PhD salary premium is much higher [than it is for Americans], because it is based on BS-level pay in students' home nations versus PhD-level pay in the U.S.A. .. [If] doctoral studies are failing to appeal to a large (or growing) percentage of the best citizen baccalaureates, then a key issue is pay... A number of [the Americans] will select alternative career paths... For these baccalaureates, the effective premium for acquiring a PhD may actually be negative."
That is exactly what happened. Dr. Ryan and other hiring managers have harmed the nation’s technical capability and made us dependent on foreign workers by going after cheap labor.
For the long term health of the nation the H-1B needs to be ended. Dr. Ryan and others would then have to bid up the wages of those Americans who have the needed skills. Others seeing the high wages would then have an incentive to acquire those skill sets. In others free market capitalism would supply all the needed labor just like it did before the government manipulated the market by subsidizing employers with the H-1B.
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.