Senators propose amendment to give Americans a chance at H1-B Visa jobs.

Here is an immigration story that got no coverage.  Senators Sherrod Brown of D-Ohio and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) proposed an amendment to the immigration bill that would create a legal requirement that US companies hire American citizens before hiring foreign visa workers of equal qualification.  The amendment would also require companies to pay prevailing wages.

The H1-B Visa program has come under a lot of scrutiny lately because of high unemployment rates during the recession. The top 10 companies using H1-B visas are all outsourcing companies and they take more than 50 percent of the H1-B visa quota.

The H1-B visa program was supposed to be a short term fix for shortages in certain labor categories like software engineering and chemical engineering.  The idea was that these companies face a critical technical bottleneck that was stopping growth and job creation elsewhere.  Instead it has been taken over by the outsourcing industry.  Much the way companies shed cafeteria and maintenance staff during the 1990s as "non-core", they also shed IT staff during 2000s. The outsourcing industry is led by large consulting companies like IBM, Accenture, Infosys and EDS.

The amendment had the opposition from the business community for several reasons: it would raise labor costs of H1-B visa workers, it had enforcement provisions which would create a risk of non-compliance, and it would increase administrative cost.

Senator Sherrod Brown Press Release: Give American Workers a Fair Shot at High Skilled Jobs.

Senator Grassely works to eliminate fraud and abuse in H1-B visa program.

Cleveland Plain Dealer / Cleveland.Com: Sherrod votes Yes. 

The proposal is very much in line with the proposed immigration policy of the Evil Black Economist blog.  The policy is that immigrant must be tied to the general unemployment rate and specific industry need.  Guest worker programs like the H1-B visa program is needed but many companies are abusing the program to lower labor costs.

Second, the H1-B visa program ultimately stunts US long term competitiveness in an important and high paying sector of the economy. The consulting and outsourcing industry had deterred the entry of US workers into tech industry by reducing wages, requiring more experience and specialization and reducing R&D and training.

Thirdly, the reality of improved IT productivity for business is much more complicated. Business has saved much less money than they initially though while IT quality has slipped. Most of the excess profit for IT has instead gone to the large consulting companies and outsourcing firms and their owners and partners. Very little has gone to IT innovation, new IT products or new IT supported processes.

The amendment from senators Grassley and Sherrod is good balance between labor and business interests.  The amendment may appear again when the house of representatives debates immigration reform.

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