• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year

2

Despite a $500 million net worth, Shaq just finished his fourth degree. He warns graduates: 'Your character will take you further than your resume'

3

Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 

1

Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year

2

Despite a $500 million net worth, Shaq just finished his fourth degree. He warns graduates: 'Your character will take you further than your resume'

3

Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 
TechData

Scarce Tech Talent Even Harder to Find in Tumultuous U.S. Political Climate

By
Grace Donnelly
Grace Donnelly
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Grace Donnelly
Grace Donnelly
Down Arrow Button Icon
August 9, 2017, 3:49 PM ET

Uncertainty around immigration policy leading up to the presidential election and in the first months of the Trump administration has set off concerns throughout the tech industry, which has used foreign workers to address a shortage of workers in the U.S.

Search data from Indeed already shows fewer job seekers based outside the country are searching for U.S. positions. Now an analysis of 175,000 interview requests from Hired shows that U.S. companies are reaching out to foreign talent less frequently.

Hired is a job site that matches employers with candidates. It uses information from jobs seekers to send a curated list of available talent to companies each week. Employers can then reach out to to the candidates with interview requests and Hired charges a fee for each worker that companies end up hiring, typically 15% of the employee’s starting salary. Nearly 10,000 companies and 1.5 million job seekers use the platform.

The site saw a 60% decrease in interview requests from U.S.-based companies to foreign workers from Q2 to Q4 2016 and says this was due to the level of uncertainty surrounding the future of immigration policy during the election. Although the number of requests rebounded after the election, they were still down more than 20% in the second quarter of 2017 compared to one year prior.

Hired also found that foreign candidates were accepting interview requests from U.S. companies 4% less often during the election than they had earlier in the year.

To learn more about what was going on, Hired sent out a survey to workers in the tech industry. With only 362 employees responding — mainly product managers, software engineers, data scientists, and designers — the results are not representative of the U.S. tech workforce as a whole. But the survey does give voice to workers in U.S. tech hubs, like the San Francisco Bay Area, Austin, Seattle, Chicago, Denver, Boston, and New York City.

The 2016 election made 40% of tech workers surveyed consider relocating outside the United States. Nearly one-third of the those employees named Canada as their first option. The other top destinations were Germany at 12%, the continent of Asia and Australia at 10%.

“The primary consequence is less talent available to companies in the U.S., but the secondary consequence is that potential founders in the U.S. are starting to think about starting a company elsewhere,” said Hired CEO Mehul Patel.

More than three out of four tech workers in the U.S. surveyed by Hired believe immigrants are important to their sector.

It’s hardly surprising. Forty percent of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or children of immigrants. The 2011 report from the Partnership For A New American Economy that published that statistic resurfaced earlier this year as CEOs railed against President Donald Trump’s travel ban.

And the tech workers polled by Hired agree with them: 60% of survey respondents believe the current administration will have a negative impact on the tech industry and nearly one in four said they were less likely to start a company in the U.S. as a result.

That’s troubling feedback since 55% of the survey respondents agreed that the U.S. doesn’t have enough tech talent to meet demand. Patel said the number of interview requests per employer on the site are rising to record levels— a sign that companies are spending more time and money hiring workers.

One vehicle to bring foreign talent into the tech sector has been the H-1B visa program. It has some vocal advocates, like Microsoft and Google. But it has some notable flaws: Critics say companies use it to outsource American jobs and underpay foreign workers.

Many of the tech workers surveyed feel H-1B visas are not the answer — 44% of U.S. citizens and 64% of non-citizens who took the survey don’t think the H-1B visa program is working.

“I do agree that the H-1B visa holders are taking some American jobs, not because they are more qualified, but because companies can pay them less to do the same work and they won’t complain because they just want a chance to stay in America,” one tech employee said in the survey. “Something needs to be done about the process, whether it’s equal pay, a decreased number of H-1B visas issued, or some other method.”

About the Author
By Grace Donnelly
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

How Grab’s CTO sees the superapp’s push into physical AI and automated driving—and why he uses his competitors’ robots in the office
AITransportation
How Grab’s CTO sees the superapp’s push into physical AI and automated driving—and why he uses his competitors’ robots in the office
By Angelica AngMay 22, 2026
8 hours ago
Trump AI and crpto czar David Sacks sits next to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg at a dinner table in the White House as Zuckerberg turns to Sacks and says something.
AIAmerican Politics
Tech billionaires convinced Trump to back off an AI executive order. But much of MAGA favors AI regulation
By Jeremy KahnMay 22, 2026
8 hours ago
James Daunt sits in a booksop, gesturing with both hands and smiling.
AIbooks
Barnes & Noble CEO clarifies the bookseller’s stance on AI-written books after refusing to ban them: ‘This is a straightforward rejection of AI books’
By Sasha RogelbergMay 22, 2026
10 hours ago
A photo taken during the Maroon Bells bicycle ride during Fortune Brainstorm Tech 2019 in Aspen, Colorado. (Photo: Fortune)
InnovationBrainstorm Tech
Fortune Brainstorm Tech 2026 will be brilliant
By Andrew NuscaMay 22, 2026
11 hours ago
satya nadella
AITech
Microsoft reports are exposing AI’s real cost problem: Using the tech is more expensive than paying human employees
By Jake AngeloMay 22, 2026
12 hours ago
Sam Altman standing in a lift.
AIOpenAI
The big questions looming over OpenAI’s trillion-dollar IPO
By Beatrice NolanMay 22, 2026
12 hours ago

Most Popular

Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year
Success
Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year
By Preston ForeMay 21, 2026
2 days ago
Despite a $500 million net worth, Shaq just finished his fourth degree. He warns graduates: 'Your character will take you further than your resume'
Success
Despite a $500 million net worth, Shaq just finished his fourth degree. He warns graduates: 'Your character will take you further than your resume'
By Preston ForeMay 20, 2026
3 days ago
Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 
Workplace Culture
Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 
By Preston ForeMay 19, 2026
3 days ago
Indeed chief economist says we’re entering an era of ‘great mismatch’ thanks to a generational imbalance of workers
Success
Indeed chief economist says we’re entering an era of ‘great mismatch’ thanks to a generational imbalance of workers
By Emma BurleighMay 22, 2026
13 hours ago
Pay transparency is exposing a bigger problem: Most companies can't explain why they pay what they pay
Workplace Culture
Pay transparency is exposing a bigger problem: Most companies can't explain why they pay what they pay
By Sydney LakeMay 20, 2026
2 days ago
Microsoft reports are exposing AI's real cost problem: Using the tech is more expensive than paying human employees
AI
Microsoft reports are exposing AI's real cost problem: Using the tech is more expensive than paying human employees
By Jake AngeloMay 22, 2026
12 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.