In my personal observations, the loss of jobs by US Citizens to non-citizen workers has been occurring heavily since the 1990's. It began with massive imports of less costly labor in the form of H1B visas. The US Department of Labor is supposed to be responsible for "ensuring that foreign workers do not displace or adversely affect wages or working conditions of U.S. workers."(1) This is offset by the fact that employers using the program have no requirement to show that no workers will be displaced other than filing a form. Wikipedia states "
The Department of Labor states that the H-1B law doesn't require employers to seek local talent before recruiting abroad for their US job openings, except in limited circumstances when the employer is considered H-1B dependent:
The DOL's [Strategic Plan http://www.dol.gov/_sec/stratplan/strat_plan_2006-2011.pdf], Fiscal Years 2006-2011 (pg. 35) states: "... H-1B workers may be hired even when a qualified U.S. worker wants the job, and a U.S. worker can be displaced from the job in favor of the foreign worker."
The [Federal Register http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/fedreg/final/2006005740.pdf], dated June 30, 2006, Section II, paragraph 4, "the statute does not require employers...to demonstrate that there are no available US workers or to test the labor market for US workers as required under the permanent labor certification program."
Employers must attest that wages offered are at least equal to the actual wage paid by the employer to other workers with similar experience and qualifications for the job in question, or alternatively, pay the prevailing wage for the occupation in the area of intended employment, whichever is greater. By signing the LCA (Labor Condition Application), the employer attests that: prevailing wage rate for area of employment will be paid; working conditions of position will not adversely affect conditions of similarly employed American workers; place of employment not experiencing labor dispute involving a strike or lockout."(2)
Recently businesses have even circumvented this minimal requirement by "outsourcing" jobs off-shore to work centers in foreign nations (
primarily India, but include former eastern block countries and many others where labor is cheap).
This petition is intended to suggest to our government a means of leveling the playing field.
This method is to create a tax on every lost job equal to a year of unemployment compensation and re-taxed each year.
This tax would be applied to those companies directly importing or exporting jobs. Those companies indirectly importing / exporting jobs would be taxed for half the amount of the direct companies.
(1 & 2) Wikipedia article on H1B visas.
