If Obama's drive for immigration reform uses the logic of "STEM SHORTAGE!!!" as a basis for expanding OPT, it means that hyperbole has won, and we here at HN will suffer lower wages and a more competitive job market as a result. I'm not actually sure that this is what the rhetoric is going to look like, but the rest of my comment assumes that it will look that way as it pertains to the expansion of OPT.<p>There is no STEM shortage; tons and tons of STEM workers work outside their field because they can't get a (typically very competitive) job in their field. If there were a STEM shortage, STEM wages would be skyrocketing, which they are not. Many people with PhDs in the sciences are underemployed and underpaid.<p>More STEM workers means lower pressure for wages to rise, thus saving money for companies in addition to allowing them to be more picky about who they hire. Increasing the pool of STEM workers is an easy way to please the tech companies (who appear to be coming into their own as political juggernauts) and seeming to make progress on "immigration reform" while circumspectly fucking over the employees of the most advanced sector of the economy in the name of progress.
My hunch is this is what 'immigration reform' is really all about behind closed doors, expanding foreign worker visas for "high tech" professions. It appears that is the whole basis behind Zuckerbergs fwd.us campaign.<p>If you are a tech company you are foolish to not take advantage of the OPT program. Unfortunately it has a negative feedback loop on actually getting enough qualified and trained citizens in to these positions. It basically drives up the cost of such an education displacing citizens from the classroom. However, from the tech industry point of view it's a positive feedback loop.<p>One little anecdote on something I thought was pretty telling and a bit funny was when I recently heard an interview with Joe Kennedy where a member of the business community asked him about his thoughts on immigration reform. He gave a pretty canned response about hard working people, family ties, deserving a chance etc. Before he could finish the person asking the question chimed in '...and what about H1Bs?" and it was as if somebody snapped their fingers and Joe Kennedy stood up straight, changed to a more serious tone and replied very quickly with 'Oh yes, we MUST expand the H1B program'.
So who exactly is this helping? Ok, I know it helps out foreign students, but I am asking strictly from an American perspective. First and foremost, the governments job is to serve the American people. How does this specific action of Obama's immigration proposal help the American people as a whole?<p>It's a 100% possibility that I have this wrong but I see two groups who this helps. The first group is foreigners who live in the US and the second group is big businesses who can most likely hire lower wage workers.<p>Don't get me wrong, I am all for improving the STEM sectors in the US but I just feel like it might be a little more useful to invest in our own schools and our own workers instead of invest in foreigners living in the US. Can someone explain what I am missing or what I don't understand?
48 month OPT/STEM extension will be huge for international students here - great move!
Since OPT has few limitations and allows internationals to become self-employed, hopefully more international students will end up on the entrepreneurial path. And for those in "regular employment", more chances to apply for H1B and more time to figure out other, more permanent options (if needed). Lastly, hopefully, more smart graduates will decide to stay in this country and contribute to the economy & innovation, instead of contributing somewhere else.
Win-win-win situation. Looking forward to the update tonight.
The tech companies who lately focus on "diversity" should publish the number of 20 - 40 old workers they have, versus 40 - 60 year old.<p>There is no need for tech companies to mine youthful, foreign, easily exploited labor pools ("pipelines") when plenty of well trained, well qualified, and seasoned professionals exist that they refuse to hire.
That's a juicy bit of politics: give the tech industry its guest workers <i>and</i> bail out the universities by shovelling more fuel onto the college bonfire, both at the same time.
But will it be any easier for them to get permanently residency after? There's no point in doubling the number of people going through college and working on OPT if there's a hard cap on the number which can convert those to H-1Bs or (eventually) into green cards.
I think it is obvious and we can all agree that this decision would help foreign students, and American tech corporations. We can probably also agree this decisions is similar to globalization in that it causes an increase in global utility. But given that policy is usually measured against what utility it provides for it's current citizens. One big open question in economics is will this lead to an increase in the utility of current Americans. I think this is the interesting question. Does the increase in talent from around the world spill over enough to offset the reduction in wages from the increase in labor supply?
As a US citizen, this is awesome. If I understand this correctly it means students from anywhere can apply for jobs while studying in the US and continue working in the US after graduation. This just means better products, better ideas, and more innovation you know those common things that spawn from a more competitive marketplace. I just wish other countries would take up the same initiative, for instance in Germany you still have to select german and eu citizens over foreign borns.<p>Does anyone know of other countries where its very easy to move and start working as a foreigner?
This is horrendously bad journalism. It is a "news" article making claims about likely future events that cites only "those closely involved in the immigration debate" -- not, particularly, anyone who is, even anyone <i>anonymously attributed in a way which suggests that they are</i>, in any position to know what the President is actually planning to do.
Would the world not be a better place if there was no borders at all? That people from all over the world could work wherever they wanted to, irrespective of where they were born?