A look at the H-1B program: stealing US jobs or providing needed skills?
Emory University employs about 300 foreign workers under temporary visas, assigning them to a wide range of research projects.
Their work “is part of our core mission,” says Philip Wainwright, vice provost for global strategy. “The program and the research we think benefits the United States and benefits human kind.”
Emory is one of the biggest users in metro Atlanta of the H-1B visa program, which brings 85,000 people a year into the United States to fill positions for which their employer cannot find a qualified American.
But the program has come under periodic criticism. And because it lies at the intersection of immigration and jobs, it could soon be ratcheted back as part of the Trump administration’s signature efforts on those issues.
That worries some people in metro Atlanta's tech community because the positions being filled by H-1B holders are often key software jobs that produce innovations that fuel progress.
Is this a program that steals American jobs? Or is this a way to supply skills that right now are in short supply among Americans?
Or maybe both?
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About the Author
Michael E. Kanell, the AJC's economics writer, has been reporting on jobs, housing and the economy at the AJC for nearly two decades. He has appeared on television and radio to analyze and report on business and economic developments.
