A recent bill passed in the U.S. Senate allowed Silicon Valley companies to hire more foreign engineers, which stirred an immediate debate among their American employees. The companies claim that they have talent shortages, which is why it is in their best interest to recruit more foreign professionals, while the American employees are arguing that if there was such a talent shortage, why are the engineer wages not rising. Economists and many Americans are saying that what these companies are really doing when recruiting foreign workers is trying to depress wages.
The business ethics comes in with the idea of companies using foreign workers in place of local workers to depress wages. Is it ethically permissible to hire more foreign than local workers? Is it ethically permissible to hire foreign workers just because they are willing to be paid less? And is it ethically permissible for local workers to be lobbying against this bill just because their jobs are being taken away by someone else not originating from the same country?
Source:
Sengupta, Somini. “A Bill Allowing More Foreign Workers Stirs a Tech Debate – NYTimes.com.” The New York Times – Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. N.p., 27 June 2013. Web. 12 Sept. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/28/technology/a-bill-allowing-more-foreign-workers-stirs-a-tech-debate.html?ref=business&_r=0>.