Coping with H-1B Shortages: Firm Performance and Mitigation Strategies

The H-1B visa program allows companies to hire skilled foreign workers. Before 2014, the vast majority of these visas were allocated on a first-come-first-served basis. Since then, the program has been severely oversubscribed and all cap-subject visas have been allocated through lotteries. The autho...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inIndustrial & labor relations review Vol. 76; no. 5; pp. 919 - 943
Main Authors Mayda, Anna Maria, Ortega, Francesc, Peri, Giovanni, Shih, Kevin, Sparber, Chad
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.10.2023
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects
Companies
Coping strategies
Foreign labor
Foreign Workers
Lotteries
Mitigation
Organizational effectiveness
Organizational performance
Shortages
migration
firms
H-1B visa
skilled labor
rationing
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Summary:The H-1B visa program allows companies to hire skilled foreign workers. Before 2014, the vast majority of these visas were allocated on a first-come-first-served basis. Since then, the program has been severely oversubscribed and all cap-subject visas have been allocated through lotteries. The authors merged Compustat data with administrative firm-level data on the universe of approved petitions for H-1B visas. Using difference-in-differences and matching estimators, this article finds that the switch in the visa allocation system negatively affected the growth of companies that used the H-1B program. Results indicate that these effects are quantitatively large and that their magnitudes grow over time.
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ISSN:0019-7939
2162-271X
DOI:10.1177/00197939231165770