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back to article Google pleads with politicos for more foreign labour

Google has added to calls for immigration authorities to allow more skilled foreign labour into the US, as the Mountain View firm struggles to keep pace with its own expansion. The Googleplex despatched Laszlo Bock, its VP of People Operations (HR manager), to a congressional hearing on Wednesday to plead for more H1-B visas. …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Googlematics

    Perhaps Google could set up a school of computing in the US, in order to teach Americans how to use computers and write software etc, or whatever it is that Google's employees do all day. I remember reading a while back that the US used to have loads of computer people - a lot of computing businesses were actually founded in the US - but presumably they have all since moved to Finland etc.

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  2. george

    Google should pay more in wages to the hire the right workers.

    The google billionaire boys are asking the US to let in high tech workers to depress the wages of the current workers.

    Thousands are applying to google right now, why can't they train american workers?

    If google gets the government to really raise the limits on the visas then we can lay off all the current google employees and replace them all. That would be a great way to save money. It is all about the bottom line.

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  3. Dillon Pyron

    No students?

    Google complains about not enough qualified Americans. Meanwhile it imports foreign workers at lower wages and many other companies outsource their work to cheap countries. How is that supposed to motivate American students to get degrees in CS or engineering? My nephew changed his major from computer engineering to power engineering because he knows that's one field that can't go overseas.

    I heard on NPR that Tata (the largest Indian IT company) is setting up a call center in Mexico, where the labor is cheaper. What comes around ...

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  4. Pete

    Degree Nazis

    Maybe if Google didn't have a requirement of a degree for employment they would have a larger pool to choose from. Although it is very hard to argue with their success.

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  5. Morely Dotes

    So much for "do no evil"

    There is no shortage of high-tech workers in the USA. What is in short supply is high-tech workers who will accept starvation wages for a 60-hour work-week.

    If Google can't pay Amercian wages, let them bloody move their entire business to Mumbai, or Tegucigalpa - including the greedy, self-centered bastards that founded the business.

    And the same applies to Microsoft.

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  6. Daniel Ballado-Torres

    Goolag

    Hm... I was more of expecting Google to do something like fire up a subsidiary at India.

    Hey, at least throw it to Mexico, we need those jobs too, and we're closer!!!! ;)

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  7. War Monger

    Perhaps Google should eat its own dogfood

    and search on the phrase, "skilled tech workers in who will accept starvation wages and live in a cardboard box at the curb in Mountain View." Seriously, everyone and their brother is lining up to work for these guys. Surely many of them are US citizens with the requisite skills. I think george and Morely Dotes have it right.

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  8. Aubry Thonon

    Re: Google should pay more in wages to the hire the right workers

    "The google billionaire boys are asking the US to let in high tech workers to depress the wages of the current workers."

    I don't know about "depress the wages". I am an Australian IT professional who was hired to do some work in the US (Chambana) for 6 months back in '98. And I *guarantee* you that I was well paid. *WELL* paid.

    And why was this? Because the skills I had were not available locally. It's that simple. Yes, Universities can turn out .Net or Java developer like cookie-cutter factories - it happens here as well. But most of them, and here I speak from experience, couldn't code their way out of a wet paper bag. I make most of my money now providing an "after-care" service to clean up the crap left behind by these "experts".

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  9. Brian

    Move to Michigan

    Google can realistically do it job from anywhere in the world. The fact that they reside in California. one of the most expensive states to operate a business from, is meaningless. Build a server farm in Michigan, or Tennessee where unemployment is high, and wages are lower.

    Of course the politicians will likely listen to the money, not common sense.

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