So much for Greenspan's assertion that education is the solution to our employment woes. The very jobs that require an education are being farmed out, even as educated Americans continue to have a hard time finding work. Mind you, I am speaking as someone whose 65 person internet application development shop was just outsourced to India. Nearly every person in our shop had a B.S....and many had a Master's.
Keep in mind that the folks on H1-B are good fodder for the Corp.s because they will work harder (for fear of being deported if terminated) for the same salary. Also, they are a natural gateway to the extremely cheap labor overseas. What to do, what to do? The only thing that I can see as being our saving grace...especially in California, is our ability to innovate. It seems that we can do this faster than just about anyone else on the planet. In the IT world, it is our greatest strength. My 2 cents. Matthew Lange Infosoph.com 2610 Grambling Way STE A2 Davis, CA 95616 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Norm Matloff Sent: Wednesday, September 01, 2004 8:11 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [vox-tech] Re: vox-tech Digest, Vol 4, Issue 1 > Microsoft is a big H1B company. But they REALLY pay their H1B people well. > Take a look at the Microsoft H1B jobs: > http://www.h1b.info/lca_job_list.php?name=MICROSOFT+CORP&employer=microsofty ear=2003 > Application Platform Solution Sales Specialist > Carla Weitkamp is being paid $100,000. I would gladly do her job for half > that amount. Ms. Weitkamp is apparently the attorney handling Microsoft's H-1B paperwork. She is not the worker here. Concerning the salary, that may be less than they pay U.S. citizens and permanent residents for the same job and same qualifications. E.g. if the worker, say, has an in with the government of China, he/she'd be worth a lot more than $100K, and thus would still be underpaid. There may be an American, say a naturalized citizen originally from China, who has good connections in China too, but Microsoft may have to pay that person much more. In other words, one cannot say that the only abuses are the ones paying $22/hr. Another issue is that sometimes an H-1B is hired out of pure nepotism. A worker may be the manager's brother-in-law, for instance, and no one would know. This is quite common, and was cited in a Dept. of Labor audit of the H-1B program some years ago. Needless to say, Pete, I agree with your general point. But don't expect any solutions any time soon. Both major parties have basically called for an *increase* in the yearly H-1B cap, believe it or not. If even 10,000 programmers and engineers--i.e. a tiny percentage of the profession--were to flood Congress and the White House with calls on this issue, things would be very different. But this profession has some of the most apathetic and anti-activist people around. Norm _______________________________________________ vox-tech mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech _______________________________________________ vox-tech mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
