Why H-1B Visa is Good for America
There has been a large number of foreign individuals over the recent years applying for an H-1B visa that will allow them to live and work in the United States. The 2015 statistics are a clear indicator of this fact given that the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services received close to 233,000 H-1B visa applications. It was close to twice the number of applications that had been filed just two years before in 2013.
H-1B visas have always been demonized and seen to work against the Americans. The main argument is typically that foreign individuals come into the United States and take up the available jobs while the citizens themselves remain unemployed. However, this argument is skewed. There is sufficient evidence showing just how much the H-1B visa program has been more than good to the United States. RunRex explain just how.
Evidence exists showing that the H-1B visa program has positively impacted the United States economy. The H-1B visa policy allows companies to hire skilled foreign workers if there is no pool of talent available to fill a specific job position. There is high demand for such workers in metropolitan areas; particularly those in the technology sector. These companies and businesses have been noted to have a stronger wage growth compared to other jobs that have Native American workers.
A look at the American exports over the last decade shows that there has been a significant improvement in the performance of the United States in the foreign markets. This significant improvement shows that the H-1B visa policy and the employment of skills from skilled immigrant workers have improved the market standing of the United States on a global scale by improving the country’s foreign sales.
The only way one can continue leading the industries is by continually delivering quality and being innovative. While there is a good number of creative minds and innovative persons in the United States, the demand for such skilled hands and innovative minds is way higher. Automatically, foreign nationals who have proven to be effective and to possess those highly demanded skills become the next target. Hiring them has allowed the companies in the United States to keep being innovative and stay ahead of the competition.
Diving to the issue of employment, most of the Native Americans often feel that the jobs that are meant to be theirs are granted to foreign workers instead. It could not be further from the truth. Statistics show that in addition to boosting output when you hire skilled immigrants, there is a multiplier effect. The studies show that in those states where the number of H-1B visa workers is high, more native US workers are hired. It is estimated that for every immigrant worker in either of the STEM fields, they lead to the creating of at least 2.62 jobs for United States citizens. From this, you can see that H-1B visa is more beneficial to the employment numbers as opposed to the misconception that has been in existence for long.
Taking a look at the salaries and wages that H-1B workers earn, it is evident that the amount they earn is almost similar or even more than what a similar United States worker earns. It shows that what these foreign workers are offering is highly valued and employers are more than willing to pay for their skills.
Another significant thing that foreign nationals bring to the United States when they come as immigrant workers are their diversity and different ways of approaching and tackling issues. It is quite difficult to quantify the value of these highly-skilled workers, but it is quite clear that they always bring new, diverse and simpler but useful ways of approaching issues that make United States companies dominant in the market. Their diverse nature allows companies to view ideas and solutions from different global perspectives resulting in more gains for them.
A study that was conducted in 2007 by Peterson Institute of International Economics’ researcher, Funk Kirkegaard shows that the skills levels for native United States workers are stagnating when compared to other countries in the world. It means that when the current skilled workers who are Native Americans retire, most of their skilled will retire with them and only a sample of the younger generation will possess the necessary skills to keep the industries going. With this view in mind, it H-1B workers prove to be the hope for most of the United States companies.
Of course, several cons come with allowing more of the foreign workers to find their way into the United States and take up more jobs. And it is only natural for the Natives to feel like their rights to take up the positions are violated. However, it is quite clear that H-1B works bring more good to the United States than harm. There is need to outsource immigrant workers to fill up job positions with their unique skills that the natives may not be able to provide.