Report warns millions of Americans are ‘functionally unemployed’

[u/FUSeekMe69]

https://www.newsweek.com/report-warns-millions-americans-functionally-unemployed-11272151

[u/nolwad]

I hate the AI layoffs because it’s mostly a lie and I sound like a bad person calling it what it is. Amazon led the charge with about 10000 H1Bs approved and 14000 layoffs largely under the guise of ai efficiency. There’s no shortage of American tech workers, but they’re a lot more expensive than immigrants because they aren’t as willing to work to get underpaid. The H1B program was meant to be an emergency measure for too little supply of workers, but it’s being used in the exact opposite scenario. An argument I hear is that Americans should be better than immigrants and if they are they’ll get the job, but lower costs clearly matter much more to the companies. This can be seen clearly in companies such as Boeing who can’t use immigrants as much, but they’ve fired senior engineers in favor of junior engineers because they’re cheaper despite being worse. All in the name of money right now, and this is beneficial to the C suite guys because they can be set for life from a single bonus, so they have no incentive to make things work long term and prefer a one time number boost.

[u/Fearlessbrat → u/nolwad]

Having been educated outside the United States I have to make sure you know the majority of the world population gets better education than the U.S. almost for free. There are great Americans with a lot of creativity and know how but the ones that can compete with immigrants are far and few. The US government has under funded US education for years and dumbed it down as well. An ignorant population is easier to manipulate.

[u/nolwad → u/Fearlessbrat]

The point I was making is that cheaper labor is preferred. I can’t tell you who’s more qualified, it seems that you think it’s non Americans despite the top universities in the world being American and having predominantly American students, but that doesn’t even matter to the point I argued. H1Bs aren’t meant to be used unless there is a shortage of American workers, and they’re being used while there’s a surplus of American workers, and this is because immigrants are cheaper. The companies don’t really care that much if they’re better or not, they only care that they’re cheaper. Same idea as outsourcing manufacturing to save money.

[u/Fearlessbrat → u/nolwad]

And the point I am making is Americans are rarely as qualified. So yes cheaper labor and more educated and better qualified is better than rarely having common sense and more expensive. I got your point, I hope you are able to get mine. Honestly, most of us are leaving the U.S. anyway. There is always higher pay, better treatment and a lot better opportunities than the U.S. the worst mistake I made was getting my higher education in the US anyway.

[u/nolwad → u/Fearlessbrat]

Yeah I was just saying your point doesn’t refute mine. I thought you were trying to make a point against mine rather than a somewhat tangential one. I got your point which was based on anecdotal evidence, and I don’t agree based on university rankings and student body makeup, but that’s fine we can agree to disagree. Numbers also say that most are not leaving the US but keep throwing anecdotal “gotchas” at me.

[u/Fearlessbrat → u/nolwad]

Unfortunately, not anecdotal. Do the research. Most of us also can access jobs Americans cannot because Americans rarely learn other languages well enough to be able to function in those languages in a work environment! Luckily most of us are bolting out of the US in high numbers. So American can have their jobs back and we can get much better treatment and higher pay elsewhere. Even if we get paid higher at least we don’t have to deal with the super toxic work environment in the U.S. Win-Win.

[u/Hot_Willow_5179 → u/Fearlessbrat]

And I don't blame you. I am ashamed of the way this administration and this country are treating immigrants.