

H1-B Infographic -- Myths versus Facts? - pjc
http://thumbnails.visually.netdna-cdn.com/who-are-the-h1bs_51811a4ebe7e7.jpg
(here's the direct link to Visual.ly: http://visual.ly/who-are-h-1bs)
======
geebee
I think this slide show makes some important points. However, I don't really
like the "myth vs fact" approach to something that I think is actually pretty
complicated. I also think it _leans_ toward straw man representations of
"myth" in some of these slides.

Case in point - the slide that presents a "myth" that H1B holders are paid
less than their US counterparts, countered by a "fact" that they are paid
about 10% more.

That's a relevant data point, to be sure, but it hardly resolves the issue.
The very previous slide points out that H1B workers are more likely to have
graduate degrees than Americans. The next slide shows that H1B holders earn
only 10% more than their US counterparts. And in engineering, they earn
slightly less. This data could be used to argue that the H1B plan is actually
diminishing the premium paid for a graduate degree and perhaps suppressing the
market signals that would induce more US born workers to pursue these graduate
degrees. And this might very well be exactly what has caused the problem
addressed two slides down, that US students aren't pursuing enough degrees in
engineering (to say nothing of the differences in what counts as an
"engineering" degree in the US and in China).

I'm not saying that there aren't great arguments to be made in favor of
increasing skilled immigration. But it's far more complicated than a "myth vs
fact" chart.

------
ma77c
"Immigrants started 28% of all new US businesses." This despite all the
obstacles and issues with doing so (speaking from first-hand experience!)

~~~
pjc
same here!

------
philipcamilleri
Interesting!

