(I am posting this content with permission from a letter a colleague sent to me...)

There are a lot of deceptions in the H-1B law and misleading terms of art. Many of these were designed to give our legislators plausible deniability and cover for what they were legislating [in order to garner re-election campaign funds from the the high-tech industry, its trade associations, its officers, and its lobbyists].

Unless you've been living in a box, you know tech employment also decreased during the great recession. This article overviews some BLS data on which cities have the most tech jobs and which cities lost the least in 2009. Seattle was at the top of the list in keeping jobs, although tell that to the 5,000 Microsoft workers who were fired.

The report, based on data collected by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, also showed that the New York metro area remained the largest industry employer, with 317,000 tech workers in 2009, the latest period for which the BLS has combined annual industry and metro area information.

Note: I state "Folks from other countries" in the subject - that is primarily targeted at dealing with indians either here on a H-1B visa or at the offshored "back-office"....

Sometimes I see small eruptions of sentiments to hire only Americans (and legal residents of course). You'll see new sites like hireamericans.org arrive. While I certainly understand the emotional pull and the therapeutic value of these sites, in my opinion, they will have very, very limited success. There are a couple of limiting issues. First, this action is targeted at the very bottom of the food chain, meaning that it effects will be limited.

One of the axioms that the free trade industry espouses is that immigrants are only doing work that Americans won't do.

This was echoed a couple of years ago by John "Give Them All Amnesty" McCain, who made the statement that Americans just won't pick lettuce for $50/hour. Shortly after that, his office was flooded by applications from Americans who wanted that job.

Economic conditions force older workers to make it hard on younger generations -
which will make them cheer the death panels of the New Health World Order (Obamacare)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100409/us_nm/us_usa_economy_employmenttrends

NEW YORK (Reuters) – More adults over age 65 are staying in the work force, which could make it harder for younger workers to find jobs, a private report showed on Friday.

From the India Economic Times:

MUMBAI: The outsourcing industry received its biggest bonanza yet with the US healthcare bill being passed by the House of Representatives. The opportunity that it throws up for outsourcers is huge and far bigger than the Y2K, which included only changing code, said experts. When the bill becomes law, it will bring around 32 million more Americans under insurance cover, pushing healthcare providers and insurance firms to become more efficient and opening up demand for less-expensive services, better technology and business intelligence.

“The opportunity is not at a company-level but at an industry level,” said Milan Sheth, partner, Ernst & Young, indicating the scale of opportunities that is expected to unfold over the next 10 years. Nearly all top IT firms and BPOs have been anticipating the move and preparing for it by pursuing contracts and acquisitions giving them a footprint the US healthcare provider and insurance segment, estimated at around $ 30 billion.

There is something wrong with the way American business performs. America does the R&D and introduces new gadgets to the market. It overprices and underproduces.

Like the transistor radio in 1954 - $49.95 - equivalent to $364 in 2006. The Japanese and Chinese jump on this and take over the market. Same with cameras, consumer electronics, household appliances, cell phones, cars, trucks, drywall, fruit cocktail, etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Regency_transistor_radio.jpg
Regency TR-1. $49.95 1954