A Most Peculiar Plan: The Origins and Troubled History of High-Skilled Guestworker Programs

• In Event: Rethinking Guestworker Migration Policy: Empirical Analyses of the H-1B Visa Origins and Labor Market Impacts

Abstract

High-skilled guestworker programs, notably the H-1B visa program, have become an integral feature of labor markets in several industries. In the information technology sector, between half to two-thirds or more of entry-level hires are on a guestworker visa (H-1B, OPT, L, and others).  Healthcare industries and science and technical research labs also rely on these programs for substantial shares of their hiring.↵

These guestworker programs are currently viewed as intended to address skill shortages, and debates center on the extent to which there are, in fact, shortages, the impact of these programs on domestic workers, and whether they are exploitative. While the merits and impact of these programs have been, and continue to be debated, there has been less attention to their origins and function. Little is known about the origins of these programs, their intended purpose, and their evolution since their creation some eighty years ago.↵

Extensive archival research, records obtained and declassified via the Freedom of Information Act, and reviews of Congressional testimony, floor debate, and staff studies and records during their creation and their first decades document the origins and intent of these programs. Further, this research finds there was intense debate about these programs and attempts by policymakers to preserve the intended purposes and prevent exploitation of these programs during their first three decades. The origins of the program and early debates are largely lost in the current discussions and assessments of these programs. Current discussions rely on a revisionist history about their purpose and function.↵

This historical analysis finds that the original programs were never intended to be a workforce/worker program. Rather, they were created for geopolitical, Cold War purposes. They were designed to allow the education, training, and, in some cases, the employment of a select group of professional and technical workers who were ineligible for immigration status. However, unanticipated by lawmakers, these programs were discovered by employers as a means by which they could hire lower-cost workers. It often allowed exploitative terms of employment because these workers were restricted in labor market mobility and were not in a position to negotiate the terms of their work contracts. Subsequent legislative action was ineffective in addressing the circumvention of the original intent and employment restrictions of these programs.↵

The analysis traces the origins and evolution of these programs, the early debates about their purpose and attempts to address their exploitative functions, and how they were transformed into a permanent source of employment for some industries. Attempts to protect the original intent of the programs were largely defeated. Once institutionalized, these programs forestalled, rather than promoted, policies to increase the domestic supply of workers in those sectors. This historical analysis can shed light on how and why these temporary programs, said to address labor shortages, have persisted for decades. It also provides an analysis of how policy evolves to serve unintended purposes.

Author

• Hal Salzman, Rutgers University
  Presenting Author