U.S. takes action to halt big tech companies' hiring of foreign workers
- What to look for
- You can check the companies subject to the suspension of permanent labor certification, the figures since 2009, and Microsoft's layoff and visa statistics exactly as stated by the speaker.
- Why it matters
- Following the numerical reasoning in U.S. immigration and labor policy announcements helps readers learn how to interpret news about employment regulations affecting big tech.
AI summary
The U.S. Department of Labor announces that it is excluding major IT outsourcing companies, including Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini, as well as Microsoft and Adobe, from the permanent labor certification program. It says it will neither accept nor process any new or pending permanent labor certification applications from these companies, and states that since 2009 there have been requests for approximately 300 ten-thousand people, 23 ten-thousand H1B approvals and 10 ten-thousand permanent labor certifications. Attorney General Blanche calls this a signal that discrimination against American workers will not be tolerated, pointing out that Microsoft laid off 6 thousand Americans last year while obtaining 6,300 H1B approvals and 3 thousand green cards. He says this amounts to replacing each 1 laid-off worker with 1.5 foreign workers, and explains that suspending PERM blocks the pathway from H1B status to permanent residency. All outlooks regarding direction are the speaker's conditional judgments, not definitive short-term price predictions.