I suggest you look into the companies that are actually hiring and getting the bulk of the H1B visas. Because it may surprise you, it's not top tier tech engineers at Facebook, Apple, etc. It's companies like InfoSys and Cognizant. [1]
The business model of these companies is to provide workers at a cost below what it costs in the US. This business model is a big reason why they are so successful. At scale these companies drive cost, and wages down. US workers then need to accept lower paying jobs. The worst thing about it is the wage depression here is most felt by the low-tier tech workers, not the well paid SV engineers.
And they don't always follow the rules either. Infosys and Cognizant have been caught up in legal trouble for visa fraud. [2]
TCS and Infosys should had been kicked out of the H-1B system long ago.
They are fraudulent as fuck.
- They realized the quota system is based on the physical action of taking random entries from the mail. So what they did was submit the same application multiple times, so that their H-1B applicants had a higher chance, to the detriment of other applicants.
- They forced their employees to sign a power of attorney and kept all money from the employee tax returns.
They suck. They should be sued to oblivion until bankruptcy.
This is like saying "if tim cook and anybody who is smarter than me doesn't exist, I will be apple ceo and earn 200m a year.".
If these smart people didn't work for apple, apple wouldn't exist in the first place.
I can assure you h1b wage depression is minimal.
We of course should get rid of h1b abuse. There is always an improvement.
But we should not get fewer h1b people...