I have some experience to know that post docs come to the US to work at prestigious institutions (e.g. Harvard in association with MGH) and get paid about $50k per year as researchers.
For both H1Bs and researchers, labor import should include stipulations about minimum salary. The current system is highly exploitative.
I quite agree with you that the current system is highly exploitative. But the problem runs deeper within the academia than with the visa system.
First, there isn't a market to begin with. Tech companies compete for the best engineers but universities do not need to compete for the best researchers. There are many more freshly minted PhDs every year than available postdoc jobs are in elite research institutions. Universities can pay them the bare minimum and still get to pick the best from a pile of applicants.
On the other hand, most research funding that a university lab or federal research lab relies upon comes from the federal government. As such, in many universities, the pay scale for postdocs is dictated by the funding agency that funds the research project. You probably wouldn't believe that in this tech bubble, there are researchers living on a 48k/y salary that barely pays the rent and necessities, Americans and foreigners alike. So why would anyone be willing to do this? Because there is no other way to land on a faculty job.
Does banning J1 and H1B visas help to address the glut of Ph.D. production and the problem with the way research is funded and evaluated? No. It would only turn those would-be Americans into would-be Canadians or Europeans.
(Edited for clarity)
It is not, there a lot of people with extremely sought after skills that doesn't qualify for an O-1 visa (which is also more subjective so never a sure bet) for which H1B is the only option. Me and many other H1Bs were hired into positions with salaries above average for our american peers.
Yes, it is also abused, but saying it's only about cheap labor simply isn't true.
What you are asking for already exists for H-1B's!
To get H-1B you have to first file an LCA (Labor Condition Application) with DoL (Department of Labor) to get approval for the specific salary that'll be paid.
There is a govt database that maps job, skill level and location to a salary. The actual salary has to exceed both the one from the database, and also that for similar workers in the same company.
It would be a valid opinion to say the salary requirements should be increased. But saying there is no minimum salary enforcement for H-1B salaries is blatantly wrong.
Businesses need not be apologetic about h1b - there is of course some fraud, but vast majority are very valuable contributors to the US. Instead we should highlight these "american programmer" groups are shakedown artists and often outright racist and should not be countenanced.
I would invite open-minded HN-ers to read Anna Lee-Saxenian's work at UC Berkeley.
They aren't regarded as fully independent researchers yet (that's why they're doing a post-doc), so you'd expect a lower salary.
And some Phd's only make $70-80k per year in full time roles outside of academia, so $50k wouldn't seem out of place for someone still "in training".
i told my previous employer, of they continue the post doc program (i was the guinea pig) ill quit. the title and salary were terrible. everyone outside my group was horrified and telling me to leave and get a better job it was that bad.