It's not xenophobia. Most people don't have any problem with the
people that are looking for jobs from any country. Good for them and good luck to them. If the shoe were on the other foot I would try to make the most of that system too. This is a problem with your
government screwing with a free market system at the expense of
its own citizens. Just because the US worker is "wronged" doesn't mean that she should (or does) blame the foreign worker. It is the US government that is screwing US workers.
Lets say job A has 3 people qualified to do it, but four companies need job A filled, the three qualified people can pick and choose their job. Now, turn to job B, which also has 3 people qualified for it, but only one company needs job B filled. Now, it's the company who can pick and choose who they hire and for how much (or how little).
If the supply of IT workers is relatively low, the demand side of the equasion will drive up wages to the point where more people enter the field or re-enter the field. If you increase the supply, the wages regardless of where they were before, will decrease. H1-B's increase the supply in a system, which even IF the H1-B workers are paid the same, will decrease wages for all. H1-B's even IF they are necessary WILL drive down wages. And they have the added bonus that since the jobs pay less that what a smart guy can make if he chooses a less afflicted profession, the US supply continues to dwindle. This will either cause an increase in wages OR, you guessed it, mandate the need for more H1-B visas.
The guy fixing the cement slab for your house, he was making much more than the lawyer doing your legal paperwork to buy the house.
I would be much happier with this situation. I don't think legal paperwork is that hard (ianal) or should justify great pay. But tradies do a lot of hard work usually for not a lot of pay. This at least seems more equitable. Now as for the hard work the lawyer put it when the plumber was slacking off in school.... how hard was it? just is justify the difference in lifestyle? Maybe, and certainly knowing what the outcome of your effort would be would affect you chosen profession -- lawyers are reasonably bright - If they knew that they would have to go to school for 8 years and study hard all the while amassing debt just so they could earn half as much as a plumber that dropped out of school... I think there would be fewer lawyers (which might just drive of the wages again).
For example, I work in an office doing a business analyst role, but I wouldn't take say a job moving lawns for the same money. I don't like mowing lawns.
I think the the lawn mower example is spot in. Certainly for the perspective of - it is what it is. Wages for work are where they are - choose your profession accordingly. It's just that a sudden external supply change can really knock you feet out from under you after you have committed to a given profession.
I advertise roles within this team at above the minimum wages but hire very selectively. This means I get someone who is a better worker for the role - and mostly people who want to do the role well.
It's relatively common for two mid-level developers ( or entry, or senior ) to have drastically different skills levels. We'll call that "value". Yet despite that fact that one developer may provide two or three times the value of the other less skilled developer, it is very unlikely that the better developer makes two or three times as much money.
