Should US companies be able to fire/layoff US citizens to hire a cheaper employee through H-1B visa ?

[Bofferbrauer2]

outlawauron said:

Bofferbrauer2 said:

An electrician makes about 5000€ a month by now due to the shortages even though 10 years ago he would only have been around 2000-2500€. If that's not fast enough I don't know what will. There are jobs with University degree requirement that pay much less than that.

@bolded: Name me one company who could even afford such a ridiculous wage. If they needed that much then we wouldn't be having electronics anymore as every company would go out of their way to do without as much as possible

You knew what the point he was making was. If employers are struggling to find work, then they should offer a better wage. Not complain that your job with low pay and incredibly high requirements can't be filled by an American. Working at a company where I could hire/fire IT techs, some of the competitors have some absurd listings with the sole purpose of being able to get cheaper labor via H-1B visas.

We're talking about Germany here in this case. There the employers basically doubled the wages, but they still can't find enough workers, simply because manual jobs became out of fashion and everybody wants an university/college degree, making them unfit and unskilled for those kinds of work. And in that case, immigration softened the blow. 

 

As for about the US, my answer is much higher above. If they can't find suitable workers (which, at 4% unemployment can happen in more niche professions that rarely anybody chooses as a career), then they should be able to hire somebody through an immigration Visa. Firing somebody firsthand just to free up a spot for those should not be possible, but for that to be possible you can blame US worker protection laws (or their lack thereof). Firing employees should only be possible for very valid reasons (like theft at the workplace, for instance).

Also, while I agree that they can hire somebody from abroad, I want to stress that I'm staunchly against wage dumping, meaning that if they hire somebody from abroad that person should be paid the same as somebody from that respective country (in this case the US) would earn.