Elon Musk sparked fierce online debate recently when the billionaire said on social media that the U.S. lacks enough top engineers, pointing to immigration as the solution to what he characterized as a dearth of technical expertise. 'There is a dire shortage of extremely talented and motivated engineers in America,' Musk posted on his social media platform, X, comparing tech companies to a pro sports team scouting players.
In addition to Big Tech companies, consulting firms like Cognizant, Tata and Infosys are also among the largest recipients of H-1B visas, providing tech companies with a steady pipeline of highly educated, well-trained employees willing to work on contract. These companies are incentivized to find employees that will accept lower pay, Hira said.'Their business model is to resell labor. If you're reselling labor, the way you become competitive is by having lower labor costs.