April 18th, 2017

Why “Buy American, Hire American” Gets It Wrong

We knew this day was coming, but we still have a hard time accepting it. Trump’s proposal to “Buy American, Hire American,” may provide short-term gains for American workers. It definitely delivers on the Populist message that President Trump was espousing during the election. But it is a short-sighted policy that will ultimately set the United States back in the technology sphere. If Trump wants Americans to compete in technology, then the American government must invest in the foundation of these skills: education. Investing in tech education for American kids is the only way to get the United States competitive in the long run. In the words of 10x Management co-founder Michael Solomon, “Maintaining pathways for the talent we need now to keep coming from other places while we  do all we can to protect American jobs should be the short term tactic. The long term strategy should be making much more investment in education and workforce training.”

Check out an excerpt of the article from Inc below, and read the full article here.

Administration officials said the order also seeks to strengthen requirements that American-made products be used in certain federal construction projects, as well as in various federal transportation grant-funded projects. The officials said the commerce secretary will review how to close loopholes in enforcing the existing rules and provide recommendations to the president.

The order specifically asks the secretary to review waivers of these rules that exist in free-trade agreements. The administration said that if the waivers are not benefiting the United States they will be “renegotiated or revoked.”

During his campaign, Trump said at some point that he supported high-skilled visas, then came out against them. At one debate, he called for fully ending the program, saying: “It’s very bad for our workers and it’s unfair for our workers. And we should end it.”

The officials said the changes could be administrative or legislative and could include higher fees for the visas, changing the wage scale for the program or other initiatives.

About 85,000 H-1B visas are distributed annually by lottery. Many go to technology companies, which argue that the United States has a shortage of skilled technology workers.

If you like this article, you might enjoy reading H1B Visas: Why They’re Broken And What We Can Do

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