H-1B visa cap to exceed this 2023 despite massive layoffs
WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES — The U.S. government’s 85,000 H-1B work visa cap is expected to exceed this year despite increasing layoffs in the tech industry.
According to experts, hiring technology professionals will likely remain strong due to the push for digitalization and automation.
Some analysts, including David Foote of labor market analysis firm Foote Partners, also believe that the effects of automation, such as HR’s adoption of self-service systems, might be underappreciated in the tech industry’s cutbacks.
Meanwhile, a report by CompTIA revealed that financial services, defense, and consulting companies are hiring tech workers who tech giants previously laid off.
The tech layoffs “have created a great opportunity for traditional companies,” wrote Vijay Govindarajan, a Dartmouth College Tuck School of Business professor, and Anup Srivastava, a professor at the University of Calgary Haskayne School of Business, in Harvard Business Review.
Foote added that the tech sector is ridiculously competitive compared to other industries.
“Hence they go through cycles of hiring and firing in what appears to be exceptionally high numbers. The huge hiring numbers don’t get as much press attention as the huge layoff numbers.”
H-1B work visa holders are primarily used to fill technology jobs in two distinct industries — IT and outsourcing. According to an Economic Policy Institute (EPI) study, almost 20,000 H-1B visas were issued to outsourcing firms looking to transfer their work overseas.
All in all, the U.S. government received 308,000 H-1B applications in 2022.
