Do H-1B Visas Help or Hurt American Workers?

At a time of high U.S. unemployment and in an election year, the H-1B visa program has become a hot-button issue. President Donald Trump in June ordered a temporary ban on such skilled foreign workers, though his administration has carved out exceptions after court challenges by business groups and others. Trump’s rival for the presidency, Joe Biden, has promised to end Trump’s ban, expand the number of skilled-worker visas and drop limits for individual countries. Bloomberg Opinion columnists Rachel Rosenthal and Noah Smith, both of whom have written about this issue, recently got together online to debate it.

Noah Smith: In a recent article, you criticized the H-1B program, arguing U.S. companies don’t need these workers because they aren’t suffering a skills shortage. But this seems a bit like saying I don’t need a free $100 because my bank account isn’t suffering a money shortage. Skilled immigration seems like a thing where more is simply better, and framing the conversation in terms of “shortages” makes little sense.