Letter to Business Week Online

June 30, 2009

To the Editor:

Re An Academics Labor Helps Fight H-1B Visas, June 28: Norm Matloffs criticisms of the use of H-1B visas simply dont hold up to the facts – or to global realities. The annual flow of foreign workers on H-1Bs represents only 0.07 percent of the U.S. labor force – clearly not a significant factor in the displacement of American workers – and employers are required by law to pay an H-1B worker the higher of the actual or prevailing wage for the position they want to fill. Recent studies suggest that H-1B workers' salaries are, on average, well above the prevailing wage, and that the presence of H-1Bs actually contributes to job creation. Where abuses exist in the H-1B program, they must be addressed – but the solution lies not in rejecting H-1B workers, but in ensuring that employers follow the law. The reality is that in todays world, talent is a scarce resource – there is not enough of it to go around, and every country needs more of it. Talent is also highly mobile. Our economy is part of a global economy, and our job market is part of a global job market. In such a market, employers look for the talent they need wherever they can find it, and students and skilled workers look for the places to study and work that offer them the most opportunity. To turn away people with skills that we need, who want to live and work in America, under the illusion that by doing so we are protecting our economy, is to deny ourselves a resource that we need to help pull us out of the current recession and put our economy on a sound footing for the future. It would cost jobs, not save them.

Marlene M. Johnson
Executive Director & CEO
NAFSA: Association of International Educators
1307 New York Avenue NW Suite 800
Washington, DC 20005
Tel: 202.495.2553