Editorial
An H-1B Visa Policy That Makes No Economic Sense
If you want to get a sense of the talent challenge now confronting industry firms, you need look no further than the open jobs posted on the website of GEI Consultants, a consulting engineering practice and environmental firm with offices around the country. Sixty-four of the firm’s posted positions are classified as “emerging professionals,” with job titles that include project geotechnical engineer, project water resources engineer and protected species observer, on call.
These are likely to be more junior positions with a steady if unspectacular paycheck. Similar lists can be found on other industry company websites, a reflection of the shortage of engineering graduates.
For reasons that don’t jibe with economic reality, the Trump administration has directed part of its immigration policy against legal immigrants, including many non-U.S. citizens who have American university degrees or training and could be granted a legal work visa to help build America’s vital buildings and infrastructure and protect its environment.
Unlike the broad Trump deportation program, the legal visa policy has gained scant national attention. Last September, President Donald Trump decreed that employers must pay an added $100,000 per H-1B visa—a program that allows those that can’t fill a position with a citizen to legally hire a non-citizen, often someone already here to study. It has produced many new employees with innovative ideas and held down costs.
In February, the administration issued new rules changing selection criteria for the H-1B visas that are granted—from a random process to one weighted to favor higher-paid employees. Those changes alone meant that engineering firms likely face sharply reduced opportunities to hire under H-1B.
For reasons that don’t jibe with economic reality, Trump administration policies against legal work visas will shrink the construction sector’s pool of employees.
Now the U.S. Labor Dept. wants to bump up prevailing wages that employers must pay under the visa program, presumably to force them from giving below-market compensation to non-U.S. citizens. The American Council of Engineering Companies, which opposed the prior rule changes to the H-1B visa program, has explained the likely consequences of the new one.
The proposed adjustments would increase the average certified wage by about $14,000 per year per worker, burdening many small employers, and visa holders who work for state agencies mostly face strict caps on reimbursement rates. Salaries offered to U.S. employees would have to increase to avoid claims of favoring international staff. Higher wage thresholds would make it more difficult for employers to sponsor recent graduates and emerging professionals.
The comment period for the new proposed rules is closed now, but let’s hope some needed changes are made before their formal adoption. If not, combined with other changes recently made to H-1B rules, well-financed tech companies are likely to scoop up most of those visa hires—and the industry’s professional services labor shortage will be made even worse.
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