michelleponders

So, recently Present Trump has said that America needs experienced workers to do technical jobs. He is now supporting H-1B visas and saying they are necessary because America does not have enough skilled people who can learn how to do these jobs. The H-1B visa program was originally intended to fill job vacancies temporarily while employees trained and attained the skills necessary to take over those positions. Now these same H-1B visas are being given precedence over American workers and while American workers struggle to gain the skills they need to get better jobs or promotions. I personally understand this and have been dealing with the bias for years.

As a Gen-xer, we were taught growing up that a college degree is everything. You can not get good jobs or decent wages without a degree. And in the 80’s, 90’s and into the 2000’s, that seemed to be the case. You could get a degree in basket weaving and, since you took the time to get a college degree, you could get a good job and whoever hired you would train you to obtain whatever skills you needed for said job.

I am so sick and tired of politicians saying they are for the working Americans when they are lying through their teeth. Asking Grok questions like the average median yearly pay for an average middle class family or how many educated people are unemployed due to lack of experience shows just how far removed politicians are from actual working Americans. The numbers are stupid crazy. The median average yearly income for middle class Americans is around $80,610. The percentage of recent college grads looking for work without experience is 5.8%. That is higher than the national unemployment percentage which is 4.2%. People that are underemployed, which is people who work jobs that do not require a degree, runs about 41% for recent graduates and 32.9% for people ages 25+.

My husband and I make half of the median household income. We are one paycheck from loosing it all. Every time we think we will finally get ahead, something stupid happens like the scamdemic, increase in cost of living, no real pay increase, etc. I have a bachelor’s degree but it is a general degree because I really thought it would help me get out of the dead end job I am in. That was such a lie we were fed. Unless you have a very specialized degree, it is useless. If I could get into a job that, starting out, I made what I make now, which is not much, I would be good with it because I could climb up, especially financially. But, like so many other people with a useless degree, I do not have any experience in anything other than where I am at, and because of that very fact, can not get hired anywhere. I currently work in retail and tried moving up but discovered I can not smile at someone while stabbing them in the back. It goes against every fiber of my being and compromises my Christian values. Companies, corporations, etc. do not want to pay and train new employees. I got married 6 months out of high school and had my kids early so when I went back to school I was not the traditional student. I was not able to take unpaid internships for experience as I was also working and caring for my family. As an educated person, I would love for a company to hire me and train me. I am not a dummy considering I did get a 4 year degree. I would love to do something that is not so hard on my body as I am in my 50’s and have 2 bulging discs with nerve damage. But instead of any type of incentives to train educated people already right here in the U.S., the politicians are OK with importing foreigners to come here and work.

This is definitely a topic I do not agree with President Trump. Mr. President, how about training the educated people already in the America and give us first dibs on these jobs instead of importing H-1B visas. It is bad enough entry level jobs are disappearing due to AI. And that is a whole other issue.