We were gas lighted by the National Science Foundation since the late 1980's with a criticized study that said the United States would be short of STEM graduates in the future.

Eric R. Weinstein, Phd wrote a paper, link below. He quoted Michael Teitlebaum, vice-chairman of the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform and Officer of the Sloan Foundations concurred stating:

"There is no shortage, there is a surplus. Claims that there was a dearth [of scientists and engineers] began a decade ago, when Erich Bloch, (ex. IBM) then-Director of the National Science Foundation, claimed that unless action was taken, there would be a cumulative shortfall of 675,000 scientists and engineers over the next two decades. Congress poured in additional money. The National Science Foundation received tens of millions of dollars for science and engineering education. And in 1990, Congress nearly tripled the number of permanent visas for highly skilled immigrants." (Gee, I wonder who got that education?)

The effect was not to fill labor shortages but to save labor costs. As quoted from the paper:

"So when you hear an employer saying he needs immigrants to fill a "labor shortage," remember what you are hearing: a cry for a labor subsidy to allow the employer to avoid the normal functioning of the labor market."

www.ineteconomics.org/uploads/papers/Weinstein-GUI_NSF_SG_Complete_INET.pdf

Besides US companies hiring H1B's, another entity appeared created by the claim of STEM shortages- the formation of recruiters. (They call themselves tech consultants, usually) Companies use them instead of their own internal sources to find and hire people. As Robert Sterling found out in a very informative readerapp (Link below):

"As it turns out, these are ALL Indian companies that import H-1B workers en masse…..these aren't American companies that needed international talent to fill critical roles. They're foreign companies that appear to have been founded to place overseas tech workers into US companies as contractors."

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1873174358535110953#google_vignette