How much lower must immigration-overhead get before employers feel like half productive US workers are not worth the tradeoff against desperately dedicated internationals, geez louise.
"Cheaper labor willing to work more" is how I read that, and the antithesis of efforts to reduce the work week.
I'd prefer US law be tailored to incentivize US companies to employ US sourced labor, where our labor law can further ratchet the work week down (we're already incredibly productive compared to 40 years ago, but wages have been stagnant [1]; we've already earned a reduction in the work week we haven't gotten). I wouldn't want our country to export environmental pollution or labor externalities like child sweatshops, and in the same way, I would want to prevent our multinationals subjugating employees outside of our country's internal labor regulatory framework.
I think the argument was that at any given level of compensation, being an international worker motivates you more. So the fact that compensation can also motivate people misses the point.
Is there an argument why being an international worker would motivate you more other than attempting to get a higher salary than you can locally? I don't want to use the words "desperation", but it seems as if that is the impetus to hire international workers, who are desperate for US wages without being protected by US labor law (in most cases, you're going to operate as a contractor in your home country when employed by a US firm, without labor protections you'd have as a US or local country employee). It is a hack by US corporations around US market wages and labor protections, one that I'm unable to endorse until labor protections apply to the business relationship.
When losing your job means getting deported it can really sharpen your sense of focus.
Don't worry though, it's not just immigrants to the US. I emigrated from the US and to be completely honest I still work hard but not with the underlying worry I always had just a little bit of before I secured my status more permanently.
Care to back up this assertion with a source? Preferably one that controls for factors like being afraid of losing your visa if you get fired? What is it about American workers that makes them intrinsically less motivated?
This isn't about American vs. non-American workers. It can be hard/impossible for most humans to do quality mental work for extended stretches of time.
I'm a non-US citizen international worker in US. I work in a startup as a software engineer. Is there any reason I'm supposed to work more than my American coworkers? We're paid the same money, in fact, I'm slightly underpaid. Or are you implying that internationals are usually more enthusiastic than Americans? That's at best [[citation needed]].
