10x Management Co-Founder Michael Solomon recently wrote a great article for Techonomy about the dangers of limiting talented tech workers from immigrating to the United States. In the long run, it damages the American economy to restrict immigration when truly talented workers are available abroad. If the Trump administration wants firms to hire more tech workers from the United States, the solution starts with American education. Limiting immigration is a short-sighted policy stance. Check out an excerpt of the article below:
It looks like the Trump administration may further restrict work visas for technology workers by making changes to the H1B program. If it does, that will send the cost of such tech workers skyrocketing, since they are already in high demand. That might be a good thing for my company, 10x, a technology employment agency. And while it may also increase the pay for technologists in the US, it is ultimately bad for innovation, growth and the health of the overall economy.
H1B Visas were created when it became apparent we needed to import specialized technological and scientific talent that we don’t have sufficiently available in the U.S. The concept of this is reasonable. When you need something and don’t have it, you find a way to get it. So far so good. But there are several inherent problems with the current H1B system, and even more with the Trump Administration proposal being discussed that would reduce the number of such visas issued.
Read the full article here.
If you like this article, you might enjoy reading Why Silicon Valley Wouldn’t Work Without Immigrants