"And nearly every CEO will tell you how much added cost and hassle there is in hiring a foreign-born worker—they do it because they physically can not find enough appropriately skilled workers in the U.S."
I've been thinking about this a lot lately. A lot of people say killing the H1B program would instantly create 50,000 new jobs for Americans. Ask the next person that tells you this to solve a deeply technical problem for you, just to see if he can actually perform the immigrant's work. There should be a notion of the difference between skilled and unskilled labor.
If you kick out all the Indians/Chinese/Russians then American kids will all switch from law school to doing physics PhDs to take all the superbly paid jobs in American industry.
It's only the presence of foreigners that is causing Americans to fail science and forcing them to aim for law and MBAs in their struggle to find a job.
It's true that a lot of kids follow the money. I'm sure a lot of students in IT in India and other places are doing it for economic reasons, so it isn't like this is universally a bad thing. In my own case, I like computers, but I like other things as well, and it's sensible to go with what is most economically advantageous.
I started school in 1998 and watched people switch away from Comp Sci due to concerns about outsourcing and immigration, and when the dotcoms imploded, the bottom fell out. I hear the argument that immigrants provide jobs, and that might be true (I can see both side of the argument and am willing to admit ignorance on which is correct), but perception often trumps reality.
IT seems to be at the forefront of outsourcing and foreign labor pressures. I'm sure proponents would say that's also why it's such a dynamic industry, but undoubtedly anxiety about this issue hurts enrollment and interest by native born peoples. If we want to support high skill immigration (I favor this over outsourcing greatly), we need to sell it more effectively as an engine for job growth. I don't think the case has been effectively made. Perhaps some of these immigrant founded companies should pool resources and put an ad campaign up to put a face on the positive effects.
I'm pretty sure you're being sarcastic and expressing your point in that manner, but the downvotes show that here on HN many people have a sarcasm detector that doesn't work. Think "Sheldon" from "Big Bang Theory."
Of course, I choose to believe that you are intelligent, therefore cannot possibly mean what you appeared to say, and hence must have been being sarcastic. If I'm wrong, then perhaps you could clarify.
quote from grandparent: "It's only the presence of foreigners that is causing Americans to fail science and forcing them to aim for law and MBAs in their struggle to find a job." ... I agree with parent, obvious sarcasm. Great point.
That is one problem with moving to Canada - you will have to become bilingual in sarcasm+irony. There are federal programs to help with this, or you can inrole in monty python-immersion school.
I've been thinking about this a lot lately. A lot of people say killing the H1B program would instantly create 50,000 new jobs for Americans. Ask the next person that tells you this to solve a deeply technical problem for you, just to see if he can actually perform the immigrant's work. There should be a notion of the difference between skilled and unskilled labor.