{"id":8063,"date":"2026-09-04T10:42:57","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T10:42:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=8063"},"modified":"2026-09-04T10:42:57","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T10:42:57","slug":"rethink-the-h-1b-visa-program-and-stop-shutting-americans-out-of-jobs-to-win-gen-z","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=8063","title":{"rendered":"Rethink the H-1B visa program \u2014 and stop shutting Americans out of jobs to win Gen Z"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The University of Pittsburgh is hiring an event planner at a salary of $45,000.<\/p>\n

Yes, the compensation is measly and the skill set required is elementary \u2014 but rest assured, this is a highly competitive role that no American candidate can fill.<\/p>\n

Read more US Open influencers kicked out after posting credentials to \u2018show how hot\u2019 they are<\/a><\/p>\n

At least, that\u2019s what we\u2019re told about this and other H-1B jobs \u2014 tens of thousands of them a year.<\/p>\n

The H-1B visa program, which lets American companies bring in 85,000-plus foreign workers\u00a0each year, is an increasingly sore subject for young Americans, who feel like they\u2019re being displaced in an already tight job market.<\/p>\n

If Republicans want to make a play for Gen Z in the November midterm elections, ending or seriously reforming H-1B must be on their agenda.<\/p>\n

Last week President Donald Trump made another attempt to curb H-1B usage by proposing to charge employers a hefty $103,265 fee for each H-1B worker.<\/p>\n

But advocates of H-1B \u2014 who argue that it\u2019s needed to recruit highly skilled foreigners for advanced work in engineering, science and IT when Americans aren\u2019t up to the task \u2014 have previously stymied such moves in the courts.<\/p>\n

Clearly, it\u2019s in our national interest to poach our rivals\u2019 geniuses.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not necessarily what\u2019s happening \u2014 as the Pitt posting attests.<\/p>\n

All too many companies exploit H-1B to bring in semi-skilled workers willing to be paid chump change compared to what Americans would demand.<\/p>\n

A growing number of Gen Z and Millennials are objecting to what they see as a government-aided effort to import a cheap, unimpressive underclass that\u2019s stealing their jobs.<\/p>\n

Anecdotal evidence abounds: A young male relative working in computer science has complained to me about the hand-holding he and his colleagues must do for H-1B arrivals, mainly from India.<\/p>\n

They resent having to work ever harder, even as their jobs come under threat.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took my son, a decorated USMC sergeant with two deployments to Iraq and a university IT degree, almost five years to get a job in his chosen field because all the entry-level positions were taken by . . . H-1B visa holders,\u201d wrote one commenter on a YouTube video I made on this topic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe injustice is absolutely maddening.\u201d<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s been rankling workers for years: Another commenter recalled how, 20 years ago, his department at FedEx once hired an H-1B optical engineer who didn\u2019t know how to write software.<\/p>\n

\u201cI eventually set up a little school in my lab to teach them the basics, but they never produced usable code . . . What a disaster.\u201d<\/p>\n

To be fair, it\u2019s not all headwinds for American STEM workers.<\/p>\n

Job openings for software developers, quality-assurance analysts and testers are projected to grow 15% by 2034, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics \u2014 much faster than the average for all occupations.<\/p>\n

Read more ICE just made NY safer \u2014 despite Hochul and Mamdani\u2019s best efforts to stop it<\/a><\/p>\n

And even if the sector was contracting, those workers\u2019 skills would be valued in the trades, which are projected to have 1.4 million jobs\u00a0across seven essential industries unfilled by 2030. \u00a0<\/p>\n

So it would make sense to keep H-1B in its current form if young Americans weren\u2019t stepping up to the plate.<\/p>\n

But the US has plenty of whiz kids \u2014 they just aren\u2019t being activated.<\/p>\n

In 2022, 17.2 million working-age Americans had STEM degrees, but only 8.6 million of them were actually employed in STEM jobs, according to the Center for Immigration Studies.<\/p>\n

The data suggests that there\u2019s a surplus<\/em> of STEM-qualified Americans.<\/p>\n

But as H-1B labor floods in, supply and demand means their presence will inevitably depress the salaries of American STEM workers.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because H-1B is a big break for employers\u2019 payrolls: These foreign workers earn 16% less\u00a0than US workers with the exact same education, occupation, age, gender and location.<\/p>\n

A lot of young Americans object to the prospect of being underpaid by Big Tech.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, accounts of corruption in the program are rife.<\/p>\n

To qualify for an H-1B, a foreign worker generally needs a bachelor\u2019s degree or higher.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

But the program is riddled with fraud, as diploma mills \u2014 institutions that sell fake degrees or issue academic credentials with little to no coursework \u2014 help migrants bypass the requirements.<\/p>\n

It translates into mediocre workers doing desk work or data entry \u2014 or even event planning \u2014 on the cheap.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why so many young Americans see getting rid of H-1B as a simple way to ease their burden in an uncertain job market.<\/p>\n

Americans can fill those 85,000 jobs a year, they argue \u2014 if only companies are willing to pay them fairly.<\/p>\n

Caroline Downey is a columnist at National Review and senior fellow at the Independent Women\u2019s Forum.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more NYC Council to grill Mamdani admin over use of influencers, encrypted messaging app to peddle positive coverage<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The H-1B visa program is an increasingly sore subject for young Americans, who feel like they\u2019re being displaced in an already tight job market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\nRethink the H-1B visa program \u2014 and stop shutting Americans out of jobs to win Gen Z - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=8063\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rethink the H-1B visa program \u2014 and stop shutting Americans out of jobs to win Gen Z - 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