Most of the talk on the national stage has been about the economy. The latest job-related numbers include 7.6% unemployment and 11.6 million unemployed. One defensive reaction to this is to limit immigration, that they are taking “our jobs”. Beyond the face of such thinking being inhospitable, it overlooks how the U.S. benefits from immigration over the years. These include:
- 1 in 4 foreign IT firms in the U.S. were founded by immigrants.
- Nearly half of the immigrant entrepreneurs surveyed came to the U.S. as students andstarted their own businesses within 12 years of entering the country. Note in 2006 there were 6 million businesses with 500 or less employees. For the same year there were 18,000 businesses that employed over 500 employees.
- Other successful immigrants can be found here. Perhaps those of us who grew up in the U.S. could learn from what immigrants did to be successful.
Even with the current “mood” in Congress being one of restricting immigration, we could do better. Here are some simple, but effective recommendations by Brian Sommer that could go a long way to improve immigration policy:
- Enforce existing law: Sure it’s obvious, but there is nothing like inconsistency to cloud the real issues. Silly things like buy-a-house-then-get-citizenship, breaks down the trust among everyone. As of January 2009, there are 11.6 million illegal immigrants in the U.S.
- Have H1-Bs mean something again: Originally defined as highly specialized, scarce skills. Companies have stretched this to now include the just-received-my-diploma undergrad with coding skills. Set clear priorities associated with the visa. How many should be granted and why?
- Address labor arbitrage: U.S. businesses who want foreign labor for pennies can be “cured” of this motive. Set a schedule, akin to the federal minimum wage, but have it based on market rates (tie to Radford Survey). Immigration costs should be excluded from such a schedule.
Improving the economy means improving businesses and improving businesses means improving talent. Extending benefits and offering public works is but a stop gap solution. Immigration is only part of the talent equation, but let’s makes it better. This sort of diversity has made us better and stronger both historically and now. Let’s just make it more understandable.
You make some great points. A lot of the talk regarding immigration has died down in light of the recent economic woes of the country. It is good to see someone point out the upside to immigration. Thanks for the good news!
Excellent article. I usually do not post the same thing twice but this issue is very important
No one is talking about this issue. When the new Immigration bill gets passed, the H-1B visa holders allowed into the country will be slashed from just under 500,000 per year to 275,000 per year. In a discussion last month, a colleague used this analogy, “Let’s say you have a country and need to let people in. In the US we believe everyone should be able to immigrate, and I agree totally with this BUT, Would you make it harder for the Doctors, Scientists, PHD’s and Technical people to get in and allow the laborers, unemployed and uneducated to come in without going through the process?” Well for the current immigration bill, the former will be kept out and the Latter will be allowed in without exception. THIS my friends is the crisis. When it takes 5 + years and more than $10,000 to become a citizen in this country, and then we pass a bill that basically lets 12 Million people into the Country in front of the people waiting in line, that is a tragedy.
Some may say I am not being politically correct to talk about this but it is fact and it is frightening.
Considering we do not have the talent to fill all of the technical jobs in the US, we as recruiters need to be as vocal as possible.
Thanks “Immigration Attorney”.
David, when legislators have law degrees and little experience in running a business, it makes being vocal even more important. Keep being vocal.