One would like to think that the Feds cutting back on the number of visas issued to high-tech workers would improve the prospects for U.S. residents in this job segment.
However, I suspect that companies that have gotten a taste of getting something for nothing, albeit a far cry from what they need, will continue to ship these jobs overseas. Witness Hewlett-Packard and others in the Houston area are aggressively moving to shed American workers from their payrolls.
The advertisements on radio and TV for technical trade schools and junior colleges are so painfully inaccurate as to be laughable. Once hyped as the career path of the future, technology job opportunities are currently far and few between even for those who, having already invested heavily in the field, are highly qualified.
It’s not only technology workers who are affected. Recall the wholesale dismantling of the steel industry, massive layoffs in the textile and automotive industries, and the nationwide job cuts in the 1980s. Corporate America has shown little loyalty to workers here at home; they frequently claim that no qualified job candidates exist while laying off current employees who could easily be trained to fill the positions in question.
It is no stretch of the imagination to envision a future in which corporate leaders preside over a dominion made up nearly exclusively of foreign workers while home-grown labor is forced into low-paying, service-oriented jobs. Have they considered the question of who will buy their products then?
All of this is not to say that Congress returning the visa quota back to its pre-2000 level is a bad thing. In fact, it is long overdue as demonstrated by the plummeting earning potential of IT professionals.
My 9/23 comments on the foreign worker visa reductions made the Chronicle, although they were censored somewhat. No mention of HP’s wickedness appeared, for example. Well, beats a stick in the eye.