H-1B visas are issued to skilled workers. The vast majority go to people with bachelor's or master's degrees, with a heavy tilt toward tech fields. Only 85,000 are admitted each year, but anyone can apply who wants to—and lately there are lots of people want to: The number of applications to work in the US has nearly quadrupled since 2020. We are apparently still the land of opportunity.
Anybody concerned that these people coming in are diminishing the overall skill/talent level of their country of origin?
re: We are apparently still the land of opportunity.
We are apparently a land that will be increasingly dense, which is good, right?
Depends on your world view. If you are American born, those people represent competition for scarce employment resources and housing. If you are an older, more rural American those are foreigners mucking up the gene pool and taking jobs away from Americans, straining our system.
If you are the originating county, it's a brain drain of people who could be creating the next world changing start up or technology. It's a disruption of community, it's pulling families apart and potentially away entirely.
The fact is, the world is changing at the most rapid pace in history. The ability to connect with anyone, anywhere is revealing vast lifestyle differences and opportunity differences. Republican overreach and bluster hides a kernel of truth, that America offers so much opportunity that people all over the world are breaking down our doors to get in - yet so many of our own people think they don't have opportunity.
Failure to recognize opportunity sitting in front of us might be our greatest weakness as a country.
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and no way to do anything about it.
Anybody concerned that these people coming in are diminishing the overall skill/talent level of their country of origin?
No. A pretty good way for inept regimes that deliver poor governance to have zero incentive to improve things is to make it impossible for their citizens to emigrate. Moreover, it's not just economics at play: in many circumstances (like where I live for instance) the ability of people to leave is their only realistic hope of escaping tyranny.
And even if the "skill diminishment" issue were a valid concern—and not just a fig leaf for immigration restrictionism—human being aren't tools: their (human) right as individuals to improve their and their children's life circumstances trumps concerns about the impact it may have on this or that national economy.
"We are apparently still the land of opportunity"
*Provided you have a Master's Degree or equivalent.
+1
*Provided you have a Master's Degree or equivalent.
Not really. Kevin's chart shows applications, not issuances. The US is no longer a high immigration country if you adjust for population or size of GDP. The net immigration rates of Britain, Australia and Canada have all been running 3-5x higher than America's in recent years. Indeed, in 2023 the United Kingdom actually allowed in more people in absolute terms than the US did, and that country is less than a quarter the size of the USA.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/nov/24/sunak-faces-tory-backlash-as-net-migration-to-uk-hits-record-high
Sadly, a fancy degree is very much not (even close to) a guarantee one will be able to come to the United States.
Two comments on this: 1. Not anyone can apply. You need to be sponsored by a US employer. 2. While the numbers have indeed gone up dramatically, this overstates it a bit as the program is notorious for duplicate applications.
When a reporter asked Willie Sutton why he robbed banks, he replied, "Because that's where the money is."
NB - Sutton denied saying this.
Are we really the land of opportunity or the land far enough away from other peoples' troubles?
Opportunity.
There are lots of places equidistant from their troubles, yet those chose to come in this direction.
Separated by two large oceans and a friendly Canada?
I am originally from Alaska and it was (and still is) widely known that Alaska is where you go when you are looking to get away from trouble somewhere else.
It's a lot easier to find people today, but Alaska was typically where one went when one didn't want to be found.
The US is the Ivy League of countries. It's where everyone wants to go and where it's harder and harder to get in.
We make up nonsense about an invasion on the border but the rich kids with their papers in order are welcome.
In 50 or 100 years, the country -- and the world -- will be a better (and less corrupt) place if we let in more of the huddled masses yearning to breathe free and fewer of the elites.
Curious how letting in more of the unskilled now makes things better 50-100 years later. Don't we have plenty of unskilled people already? Why will these new unskilled people be a net benefit over the ones we have now?
I guess it depends on how you think Miami turned out.
Still the best coke in Florida...
FWIW, evidence shows that we now have not enough workers to fill the jobs that need to be done. We need more immigrants, and not just ones with fancy degrees. From a strictly economic pov, when immigration grows, the economy grows, and the benefit of new immigrants is something we all share.
But there's more to it than just the current job market. Probably the most dominant story of America is the story of immigrants arriving with nothing and in time, maybe over generations, rising to become more respected contributors of society. They may not get the credit they deserve at first -- their work was often "essential," as the pandemic showed -- but the progression of generations doesn't happen if everyone who comes starts at the top. It's the story of progress. We work hard today not just for ourselves but for those who follow. In the words of John Adams: "I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy."
Digging into my roots, I've been amazed at the number of my ancestors who were "unskilled" during our family's first few generations in America. "Laborer" was probably the most common occupation listed on census records. My dad's dad, born 1869, was an illiterate who taught himself to read, inspired by a story he heard about Leo Tolstoy on a visit to NY. He got himself a job as a NYC cop and saw his three kids go to college. A lot of the family didn't live long lives. Pneumonia, t.b. They died in their 20s and 30s. But many survived and thrived. Teachers, engineers, business owners, etc.
We're part of the Irish American story. It's not all great stuff (drunks, IRA terrorists) but the contributions of the Irish to society vastly outweigh the costs.
If back in the day you had to choose between a boatload of European nobility or a boatload of poor Irish, you really ought to take the boat from Dublin and tell the other to go back home.
The overall skill and education level required for employment a hundred or more years ago was far lower than today for most jobs.
My off the cuff thought is that the incoming unskilled workers at least want to work and don't mind working hard. They skill up pretty fast. Unlike our home grown workers who want to sit in air conditioned spaces doing as little as possible making $25 and hour with benefits. Here's my get off my lawn moment..today's kids just don't want to work hard, especially not in the hot sun and especially not replacing someone's water heater. They're getting outpaced by brown workers who will be making six figures before they've paid off their college debt because they can't give up their game consoles. /grumpoff
You're right, of course. Most of them are Trumpers, also of course.
We accept about 1 million legal immigranats per year, which is near the all time record. Not sure how that means "it's harder and harder to get in".
Also, most immigrants get in via connections to family members who have already immigrated here. 59% of immigrants don't have college degrees.
I think you’re making my point. Without connections of some sort, it’s pretty damned hard to get in legally. When most of white immigration occurred, virtually everyone who showed up got in.
And 62.7% of Americans do not have a college degree. On average, the new immigrant is more educated than the average American.
We’re a nation of immigrants who came to this country in need, then turned the place into a members-only country club.
And 62.7% of Americans do not have a college degree.
No. It's about 69%. That figure ProgressOne cites includes children. If you're going to include children, the percentage of Americans without college degrees approaches seventy percent.
Always assume immigration restrictionists are using misleading statistics. Always.
59% of immigrants don't have college degrees.
Which means over 41% of immigrants to the US have college degrees, which is the highest it's ever been. Something like 30% of the US population possesses a college degree. So immigration is indeed expanding America's skill base. We should definitely increase that percentage, though, by aggressively targeting the world's best and brightest, as Brits, Canadians and Australians do.
But bonus points for deceptive use of statistics!
I thought it was a hellhole! Sure are a lot of people who want to come to our hellhole.
Only the cities are supposed to be hellholes.
LOL! And you think all those H1B visas are for farm jobs?
TFR in the US is currently about 1.6 children per reproductive age female. An absolute minimum TFR needed for population stability is 2.1. We’re lucky people from around the world still want to come here, we need them.
This.
The United States just experienced the slowest decade of population growth in its entire history. Nearly all the demographic projections show world population beginning to drop in another 40-50 years (the slowdown has been happening for a long time; percentage-wise, world population growth peaked in the 1960s).
A massive slowdown for the US is already occurring, and is baked into the cake. A pickup in immigration will just make the challenges of that slowdown a bit easier to manage, and will help us in our very serious geopolitical competition with China.
Not sure about China's future. China's official TFR in 2022 was 1.09 -- even lower than Japan.
It does make you wonder if the US could accelerate other countries' demographic collapse with an open immigration policy targeting select countries.
After watching the usa evolve over the last 40 years from afar, I think I'll stay where I am.
It occurs to me if we really are waging war against various foreign states, this is the most effective way to do it.
TL;DR: IOW, the exact same parties who insist the rest of us adopt that proposition would also be almost exactly the ones people who would reject my suggestion. They also want plenty of bang-bang.