H-1B Visa Controversy

For a long time, Jamestown, VA took in many indentured servants—a worker who is under contract of an employer for up to seven years in exchange for transportation and many necessities (clothing, food, drink, and lodging)—in order to fulfill the duties that the owners couldn’t. Though employers made Jamestown seem like a loving and welcoming place, it was just the opposite. These indentured servants were treated equally to slaves, but many were willing to risk their lives in order to gain their own land. Once they obtained land of their own, they could grow their own tobacco and become extremely wealthy.

These companies include Microsoft, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Texas Instruments, National Semiconductor, among others. Despite this, current immigration policy is slanted more towards groups that do poorly than it is towards those that are successful. In recent years, the United States is taking in more and more less skilled, legal immigrants, causing a reduction in some benefits immigrants bring with them, including tax revenues and capital externalities. This policy has reduced the number of qualified applicants for many firms, especially those in the technology area. They have greatly benefited from the H-1B visa program, and further expansion of this program at the expense of less-skilled immigrants would be very beneficial.

These markets were highly competitive as the servants were aware of the terms available and refused to accept inferior bargains, while on the demand side the colonial settlers had to bid on the servants, and the auction was open to all comers. Galenson used factors such as age, sex, state of health, size, strength, professional skills, education, and work experience to determine the length of the indenture term, however his analysis only considered minors. The success of his regression suggests that the servants had voluntarily bonded themselves in these contracts and that the merchants negotiated the length of indenture based on the expected value of these servants in the colonies. Galenson’s results advocate that these servants were the earliest immigrants to the America, and though the method of immigrating has changed, it is done for the same purpose—to make more money than in the home country.

During the 18th century, indentured servitude had become very common in British North America; this was one way many poor Europeans could come to America for a “better” life. In order to emigrate to the American colonies, they would sign long-term labor contracts, to pay off the debt they picked up when they wanted to come to the American colonies. The primary source, “Gottlieb Mittelberger on the Trade in Indentured Servants” is written by Mittelberger himself in 1750, who was an emigrant that arrived in British North America as an indentured servant. In this source, he explains the negatives of coming to British North America; the ups and downs he faced, for instance: the long and horrible voyage conditions, and the sale of human beings once they had landed.

Slavery and indentured servitude were the primary means of help for the wealthy in America. Either as a slave or as an indentured servant a person was required to work in the fields maintain crops, as a house servant or as the owner of debtor so chooses. The treatment of both was very similar, but the method and means to which they came to America were uniquely different as the following examples will illustrate.

i) Indentured Servants were people who worked for an employer in return for a paid

Mexican immigration has a large impact on the United States both politically and economically. Focusing on the labor market, and how over history, especially throughout the 20th century, American employers in various industries, have benefited from the immigrant workers crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. Recognizing the value of immigrants willing to work various job positions for low wages, during worker shortages in America. In the 1990s alone the number of Mexican Immigrants workers grew by 2.9 million, a 123 % increase. (PP.

The costs and benefits current, native workers see when the number of H-1B visas distributed are increased, is depended on several factors. One factor is the age of the current, native worker. In a study conducted by Sari Pekkala Kerr, stated that there is a substitutionary effect, that occurs with young skilled immigrants workers, versus older, current native workers (4). This is a cost to older, current native workers, but a benefit for younger, current, native workers. Younger, current, native workers are more complementary to young, skilled immigrants. Another factor is the skill set held, by the current, native worker. By having more skilled workers, generally speaking, regardless of citizen or immigration, will increase the productivity and innovation in the firm. This is a benefit for specialized, current, native workers.

This made indentured servitude, America’s first labor system, appealing to immigrants because it gave them a chance to improve their lives. Indentured servants consisted of mostly young men and some women who signed a contract to work a specific length of time for an employer, also called the master. The length of servitude intially ranged between three to seven years. Servants gained passage to America, food, clothing, and shelter.. Upon completion of their contract, servants were to receive their freedom dues. These dues included land, barrels of corn, and a few articles of clothing. Many also received extra dues such as a horse or cow and specific tools for trade depending on their gender. In return, an employer had laborers to tend their fields and more land was awarded to them for each servant he brought over from England. The purchase of indentured servants was almost three times cheaper than the purchase of African slaves that started coming to Virginia from the Caribbean. The indentured system seemed to beneficial for both the laborer as well as the employer,

Indentured servants were used in early colonial times as a means of passage to the new world. The cash crops of the early settlers were exhaustingly labor intensive. In fact, U.S. History (2015) indicated that “the growth of tobacco, rice, and indigo and the plantation economy created a tremendous need for labor in Southern English America” (p. 1). The technology did not exist at the time for machinery that clears the ground and works the land as it does today. The work had to be done by hand; from clearing and prepping the fields to harvesting the crops, it was all manual labor for which the new land did not have ample supply of.

In the 17th and 18th century many were lured, some were forced, children even kidnapped to travel to America as indentured servants. These people became “commodities of profit” to everyone they were controlled by, much like the slaves. The immigrants agreed to pay the cost of their voyage to the New World by working as a servant for a master for five to seven years, they then would be free (but most likely still poor) to build a life of their own in America –that is, if they survived the whole process. Indentured servants were severely mistreated, but they did have some rights during their service- even if those rights were fist decided on by their masters (who they could marry, etc.). They were much like slaves, but they could go to court (even though the court almost always decided in favor of the

“Indentured servitude declined over the century, and most of these domestic servants were now either free women or slave women” (Coryell, pg. 104). Those who worked in a servitude role were indentured servants, who had the ability to work a number of service years in order to earn their freedom and they would be given a small plot of land, afterwards, to continue to thrive. Eventually, in order to compensate for the growing American need of lower overall costs to purchase labor workers, longer time in servitude, and to decrease the need to give land lots, the term of indentured servant changed to slave, which limited potential freedoms and humanity. This demand for labor changed the owner and slave relationship. “Owners began providing minimal clothing and food. Owners viewed all of slaves’ labor as their own” (Coryell, pg. 105). By forcing a dependent relationship, owners were able to maintain their

The most avidly debated effects of immigration involve the United States’ economy and labor force. It is estimated that there are 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States today, and their impact on the economy can be perceived as positive as well as negative. The overall effect is unclear, and this essay will present both sides of the debate.

Critics of the STEM movement argue that H1-B visas are a means for companies to obtain workers at

The H-1B visa, originally created to streamline admissions of temporary foreign workers to the United States, has become a topic of much debate between the foes of immigration and the information technology (IT) industry. The debate is focused on whether to increase the visa cap in order to alleviate what the industry describes as a shortage of IT labor. This argument, however, obscures the fundamental flaw of the H-1B program that deserves a more prudent examination. The current H-1B visa program is plagued with inefficiencies that privilege the IT industry at the expense of both visa holders and domestic IT workers alike. The H-1B program needs a complete overhaul, and should include a mechanism to ensure that both employers and employees abide by free market forces. Increasing the current visa cap will only amplify current inefficiencies of the H-1B visa program. Alternatively, allowing visa holders the ability to access a greater range of employment opportunities increases the holder’s incentive to make economic contributions. The industry’s ability to hire globally must be balance by workers’ rights to seek out more competitive opportunities. Current mobility restrictions of the H-1B program are preventing valuable workers from seeking the most valuable opportunities, ultimately leading to a misallocation of foreign labor. H-1B visa reform that includes a role for labor mobility will not only introduce market forces into the bigoted program, but will also help ensure