I've been thinking for a while that a lot of the problems (wage suppression, non-existant shortages, etc.) of the H-1B visa program could be solved by replacing the lottery with a market. Instead of companies applying and randomly getting visas, start from the highest-paid salary and accept down the list until hitting the cap. Companies dealing with legitimate shortages can pay for the certainty of filling their gaps, and American workers are happy because the program becomes a mechanism to raise wages.

As with all things in economics there's probably some third-order effect that will have us scavenging the ruins of civilization for canned food, but I'm curious to hear what would be.

Archive.is cached version: https://archive.fo/TCFCg

I'm always surprised when this isn't obvious to someone. Sort of like saying "rain makes city streets wet."

Labor is a market like any other and if you increase supply you will increase competition for jobs and that will give employers an upper hand in negotiating salary.

That said, the H1B program is also abused by employers because of the various legal restrictions on people moving from job to job and that is, in my mind, unethical.

My conclusion has been that a liberal immigration policy without restriction on either employer or paths to citizenship would benefit the country greatly but that neither plays well to the isolationists in government or the capitalists in large enterprise, so very unlikely to happen.

I agree that this keeps wages down and that imposing restrictions would increase wages in the short term. But would it also drive companies to further cutback or outsource their workers? Which would then decrease local demand creating a surplus of labor and reduced wages.

Half the developers on my team are in India and baring minor VOIP issues, it's rarely a problem and often a benefit (e.g. 24hr development) If the US ended up revoking H1B visa and sent a bunch of developers back to their home countries, would that actually create jobs? feel like it would just result in more long distance telecommuting.

From the piece:

"Jennifer Hunt, former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Labor under President Obama, said she’s noticed an increasingly politicized response to research on immigration and wage inequality. She said she would have preferred that Mr. Bound and his co-authors focus on more recent time periods, but added that the paper is “the best work we have by a long way” in quantifying the “negative” effects of high-skilled immigration."

Why is Trump courting US tech workers with his proposals on this?

Note: I support H1B restrictions.

As a former H1B I can say that is accurate.

Americans have more mobility and can stay in the country without an employer.

Therefore, Americans have more time to negotiate better compensation and find projects that satisfy their needs.

Then, having native English proficiency is a substantial advantage in the job market.