Tech Hiring After Layoffs: Amazon, Google, Meta Hire Low-Paid Foreign Employees After Announcing Job Cuts in US, Says Report
Tech giants such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Salesforce have reportedly hired cheaper foreign workers after just weeks of laying off employees by thousands.
New Delhi, May 17: Tech giants such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Salesforce have reportedly hired cheaper foreign workers after just weeks of laying off employees by thousands.
According to reports, Google, which fired around 12,000 employees earlier in 2023, has offered positions to low-paid workers from foreign countries, who are to come to US and handle highly specialized tech roles.
The Alphabet-owned search engine giant reportedly submitted applications for several overseas workers to assume positions of software engineers, researchers, analytical consultants, etc as per the reports. IT Jobs Alert: Experion Technologies Plans To Invest Rs 50 Crore in Global Expansion, Hire 1,500 Techies.
Google-owned self-driving outfit Waymo also got government approval for H-1B visa applications for tech roles. Reports say that the newly appointed overseas employees will assume their positions in the company by August.
Other tech biggies including Amazon, Meta, Salesforce, Zoom and Microsoft have also filed for several H-1B applications, as H-1B visas are required by tech employees such as software engineers in the industry. These visas have been criticised a lot for undercutting US citizens in the job market and legal permanent residents.
H-1B visas are issued for three years and can be extended for another three years. A study revealed earlier that without the immigrant workers, the average salaries of the tech roles would be much higher in the United States. ChatGPT-Maker OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman Makes Shocking Admission Before US Lawmakers, Says 'If AI Goes Wrong, It Can Go Quite Wrong'.
Reports also say that the tech giants are also pressurising the US lawmakers to expand the number of H-1B visas to be issued, so that more employees can be brought in to US to fill up the roles vacated after the mass layoffs.
The applications for H-1B visas this year have seen a jump of 61%. Around 85,000 people are issued H-1B visas every year.
The number of H-1B visa applications for the technology industry has skyrocketed for a second straight year, which are creating concerns over the companies manipulating the system to have unfair advantage of low-paid employees, while encouraging firing of the US workers. A website which keeps records of layoffs, reported sackings of over 168,000 tech employees in the US.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 17, 2023 05:20 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).