Leading technology giants in Silicon Valley, such as Google, Meta (previously known as Facebook), Amazon, Microsoft, and Salesforce, are actively lobbying President Joe Biden’s administration to increase the quota of temporary foreign workers allowed in the United States through the H-1B visa program.
A trade group called Compete America, which represents the interests of Silicon Valley, sent a letter stating that these tech companies consider the current annual limit of 85,000 H-1B visas to be inadequate for their needs. Independent journalist Lee Fang cited the letter, which emphasizes Silicon Valley’s push for the Department of Homeland Security to streamline and expedite the process of visa applications.
Apprehension Amongst Domestic Workers
However, there are concerns regarding the actions of these companies, as they have recently carried out significant layoffs of American workers. This has raised suspicions about the possibility of these domestic employees being replaced by individuals holding H-1B visas. Some reports even suggest that these companies have already begun substituting terminated employees with H-1B visa holders.
Critics have denounced the H-1B program due to its potential to drive down wages in the technology industry. Companies can exploit the program by paying foreign workers salaries below the local median wage. Moreover, according to Lee Fang’s report, The Economic Policy Institute has uncovered widespread abuse of the program, such as underpayment of foreign workers and companies hiring H-1B employees instead of qualified candidates from within the country.
Concerns Around H-1B Program
One of the issues with the H-1B program is that it links the legal status of foreign workers to their employment, making it difficult for them to negotiate better working conditions or higher salaries. These concerns have prompted calls for reforms to prevent corporations from exploiting the program and displacing American workers.
To illustrate the scale of the recent layoffs, Microsoft has terminated over 10,000 employees, while Google fired approximately 12,000 workers earlier this year. Meta (Facebook’s parent company) and Amazon have both conducted two significant rounds of layoffs, resulting in the elimination of 21,000 and 27,000 employees, respectively. Salesforce has also announced a workforce reduction of 10 percent, leading to 8,000 people losing their jobs.
