To: H-1B/L-1/offshoring e-newsletter Wed Apr 10 16:41:17 PDT 2013 Interesting article from Reuters, much more balanced and informed than most. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/10/us-usa-immigration-tech-idUSBRE9390CM20130410 A number of points are worth comment: IEEE-USA's Russ Harrison makes his usual points, with which I agree except for his support for green cards. But it's interesting that he has complains that his own members are just not the activist type. I of course have mentioned that about programmers and engineers too. Many feel strongly, but calling their elected officials is just something they aren't comfortable with. They probably don't realize just had bad things might become. Congress appears to be on the verge of taking action of truly historic proportions. I would not be surprised to see people asking in future years, "Who lost tech?" in the same manner of those in who demanded to know "Who lost China?" in the 1950s. For instance, Politico reported today, ********************** And Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said he was close to resolving a lingering dispute with Rubio, the Florida Republican, over the number of H1-B visas to provide high-skill foreign workers. Senate negotiators are closing in on a proposal floated by Durbin that would award visas to 30 percent of foreign workers for every 70 percent of U.S. workers in high-skill jobs. This has upset many in the tech community who wanted more foreign workers, according to a tech lobbyist close to the negotiations. ********************** My query to a Durbin staffer this morning concerning details has not yet been answered. But that last sentence ("...upset many in the tech community...") notwithstanding, this is a stunning proposal. There are about a million IT workers in the U.S., so the proposal would allow 300,000 visas just from IT! One wonders where that 30% figure comes from. Even Microsoft, whose figures and hiring policy many have questioned, only claims a vacancy rate of 10%. So 30% seems outlandish even if one accepts the industry's claims. And on what basis would that 30% figure be calculated? All of STEM? If so, the fields that don't traditionally hire H-1Bs could "subsidize" those that do. We could see something approaching 100% of all Software Engineer jobs go to H-1Bs, for example. Getting back to the Reuters piece, we again see the industry argument that the H-1Bs are "the best and the brightest"--and once again, see no evidence offered by the industry to support their claim. As most of you know, the actual evidence is overwhelmingly to the contrary. One of those quoted making the "best and brightest" argument in the article is Nathan Blecharczyk of Airbnb. So as usual, I looked into the firm a bit. To begin with, the firm looks just like the description I gave of Facebook the other day: A bunch of 20-somethings with a few in their 30s. Take a look for yourself, at https://www.airbnb.com/jobs/departments/engineering Same appeal to the young crowd, e.g. at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1748359 ********************** In particular, we need some front end engineers!! http://www.airbnb.com/jobs/position?jvi=omNoVfwc Email me directly if you are a badass front end engineer and like mustaches & ridiculous sunglasses - chris@airbnb.com ********************** One unusual aspect of this company is that a number of its users seem to be H-1Bs! Just plug "H-1B Airbnb" into Google. Of course, I also looked at Airbnb's records in LCAs (H-1B) and PERM (green cards). Again, a typical pattern: Offered salaries are higher than the legal requirement (a lowball figure), but below the overall median. And the offered salaries are lower than "best and brightest" levels (see my EPI paper). So, if Blecharczyk is so keen on getting "the best and the brightest," why isn't he offering commensurate wages? Indeed, the economics doctoral student quoted at the end of the article puts it quite correctly: ********************** But he says that as long as companies are free to headhunt employees from rivals and woo qualified professionals from other industries, it's difficult to say shortages exist. "If companies want more workers they can all raise wages and attract more people," Golden said. ********************** Correction: In my posting yesterday of remarks by software engineer "MR," he had incorrectly included journalist Pat Thibodeau in his list of "Marie Antoinettes," the other being Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. MR tells me he meant to include Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg along with Zuck, but had mistakenly written Thibodeau instead of Sandberg. Norm Archived at http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/Archive/Reuters.txt