Elon Musk has triggered a fresh controversy amid the already raging H-1B war as he claimed that America has a major shortage of people who can do challenging physical work. He said Americans don’t even wish to train for this. Musk made the comment as he reacted to Ford CEO Jim Farley’s latest alarm that Ford is struggling to fill 5000 mechanic positions with a $120,000 pay per year. But the timing of the comment is crucial as too many people are telling Americans that they are lacking in something or the other. President Donald Trump said in a recent FOX News interview that America needs certain talents from outside countries and hence his administration would not stop the H-1B visa program. As an example, Trump cited the battery workers from South Korea who were raided recently. Trump said such type of work needs expertise that Americans don’t have.This triggered a fresh H-1B row as the Donald Trump administration appears not to have found out what it wants to do with foreign workers. It imposed a hefty fee of $100,000 for companies that would hire foreigners on H-1B making it difficult for them but it won’t stop H-1B as it’s believed that Silicon Valley companies need high-skilled STEM employees. And Americans are not good at that.Now Elon Musk, who has been a staunch advocate for the H-1B as his companies rely majorly on this, said Americans are not interested in challenging physical work either.
First while collar jobs, now blue collar jobs
Elon Musk’s comment drew flak as social media users observed that Elon’s comment is coming from the same place of underestimating Americans. Users commented that this is how the CEOs first stole white collar jobs, claiming that Americans are not good at STEM and now they are pushing the narrative that Americans are not good at physical labor either. “Do you know how many young kids would gladly be a mechanic for 120k a year? All you have to do is invest in them and actually teach them. But we all know you don’t want to do that, because labor is the biggest expense for every company, so you will just lie about it and import foreigners for tax breaks and to pay less,” one wrote replying to Elon. “Correction: we can’t find American workers to do challenging physical work at suppressed wages for employers who have no loyalty to them, therefore we must import cheap foreign labor with no exit options or bargaining power,” another wrote.
