SAN FRANCISCO — Facing new corporate demands and political pressure from a Trump administration that wants to curb immigrant work visas, Infosys, one of India’s leading tech outsourcing companies, said Tuesday that it will hire up to 10,000 Americans to serve its clients in the United States.
The move makes Infosys the latest Asian technology company to portray itself as a jobs creator as President Trump threatens to take action against companies he sees as hurting American workers.
Last month, Mr. Trump signed an executive order directing government agencies to review employment immigration laws to promote “Hire American” policies. That included offering suggestions for how to reform the H-1B visa program, which operates as a lottery to bring skilled foreign laborers to the United States each year — usually tech workers.
A U.S. Hiring Plan Falls Short of Reform
Infosys, the giant Indian company that supplies American businesses with foreign technology workers, has announced that it will hire 10,000 Americans in the United States in the next two years. This might seem like an early victory in President Trump’s “Hire American” campaign, but it’s less of a cause for celebration than it appears.
Mr. Trump has condemned the loss of Americans’ jobs to foreign replacements. And Infosys has been one of the biggest users of H-1B visas — intended for specially talented foreigners — to bring in cheaper labor to fill American jobs or replace Americans, often in entry-level positions.
But individual corporate measures like Infosys’ hiring of Americans, no matter how headline-grabbing, are no substitute for true reform to eliminate systemic abuses. Worse, by creating the appearance of change, they may actually entrench those problems. Rather than say what he wants to see changed about a system he has pilloried, Mr. Trump has simply told executive agencies to recommend reforms in the H-1B program.
