Report: Trump’s Visa Suspension to Drive Up Wages for U.S. Professionals

President Trump’s suspension of various visa programs and regulatory reforms is set to give American workers newly found leverage in the job market, a report details.

The banking and technology industry, Sarah Butcher reports for efinancialcareers.com, may go into “bidding wars” to fight for American workers at higher wages and better benefits thanks to Trump’s suspension of the H-1B, H-4, H-2B, J-1, and L visas.

Trump has also implemented vital regulatory reforms to the H-1B visa to prevent corporations from using the program to outsource cheap tech jobs to imported foreign workers.

The visa suspension and reforms, Butcher reports, are likely to force up U.S. wages and create a workers’ job market where employers bid for employees, not the other way around.

Butcher reports:

Now that banks and technology firms can’t bring in talented juniors from overseas on H1B immigration visas any more, the risk of bidding wars for top talent in the U.S. has increased. Banks in particular may find it necessary to put more money on the table. [Emphasis added]

…

This could be problematic. Even though hiring has fallen off due to the coronavirus pandemic, headhunters say demand has remained strong for elite candidates in technology and finance. Traditionally, employers in both sectors have been able to fish in a wider global sea and use H1B visas as necessary. [Emphasis added]

…

With H1B visas out of the picture, something has to give. Initially, that something is likely to be pay at banks, which will need to be competitive to win students back from technology firms. However, over time technology firms are likely to hike pay too. It’s good news if you’re the sort of highly technical U.S. student everyone wants to hire now. It’s less good news if you’re a large organisation competing for what has become a far smaller pool of talent. [Emphasis added]

There are about 650,000 H-1B visa foreign workers in the U.S. at any given moment. Americans are often laid off in the process and forced to train their foreign replacements, as highlighted by Breitbart News. More than 85,000 Americans annually potentially lose their jobs to foreign labor through the H-1B visa program.

Today, there is no shortage of qualified American workers to fill U.S. jobs. The Chinese coronavirus has spurred mass unemployment, with more than 35 million unemployed and underemployed Americans, all of whom want full-time jobs.

Trump’s plan reducing foreign competition against American workers is supported by a majority of likely voters. Overall, 54 percent of all likely voters said there are no jobs Americans will not do and thus importing foreign workers is not necessary — including 65 percent of black Americans, 70 percent of Republicans, 52 percent of swing voters, and 60 percent of the working poor.

Every year, the U.S. admits about 1.2 million legal immigrants on green cards to permanently resettle in the country. In addition, another 1.4 million foreign workers are admitted every year to take American jobs.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.