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.

@bolded: No need, but you posted that with a straight face as if you didn't mean that sarcastically. I was hoping you mean is like that, but wasn't sure.

It's not as surprising to me, but guess why so many want a degree like that? Because the belief is that jobs which open up with an University degree pay better than manual works, and they did so for ages - because only a select few managed to get such a degree. But like you said, University and College degrees got devaluated so much and so many got them by now that there are too many with such a diploma at hand but not enough jobs who need them. On the other side the manual jobs which got defected over the years now pay better and better, but it's still common knowledge that you need a college/University degree to get a good job. Si until that mentality changes the wages in manual jobs will continue to rise, at worst until steched beyond their economic feasibility at which point the companies would look for potential alternatives that wouldn't need those specialized workers anymore.

Yes. Companies should be able to layoff employees and hire cheaper ones, they need to keep costs low for shareholders.

You need to be indispensable to the company you work for, that comes with hard work... If you can be replaced by a cheaper worker who is just as good, then you probably aren't really entitled to your position in my eyes.

So say you work for a company for 20 years, and they decide to replace you with a lower waged foreigner, you somehow didn't deserve the job you dedicated 20 years of your life doing?? Meanwhile you have a mortgage, kid's tuition, medical insurance etc? 

Absolutely correct. It's time for me to find a new job, there are lots around.

I am generally invaluable to my employer anyway, it will cost them more to hire someone and spend the next several years trying to up-skill them to my level... But if someone walked in with the same skillset and training but would work for less... Then good on them.

Dog eat dog world I guess...

Any company hiring via H1B should be required to pay that employee the going US rate plus any benefits that are required for US citizens. This should not be a way for companies to hire cheap labor and screw US employees in the process.

Absolutely not.

And legally speaking, most of Latin American/European countires (I can't speak for the others) have provisions that will keep one from being arbitrarily fired except for serious fault or dire economic need of the hiring company. That doesn't mean they are absolutelly forbidden to do so, just that it'll have consequences such as indemnities etc. to disencourage such practices.

Following with a shallow analysis here, but do consider that most countries with such labour laws have average and minimum wages higher (adjusted for their GDP PPP per capita) than places like the USA, the UAE or Singapore, where outsourcing etc. abound.

The time has come to move past the notion society exists to serve companies, and not the other way around.