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Qualcomm traveling Wall Street's road
I think he's a high tech industry analysis but probably more from the technical side than the financial side.— July 23, 2015 2:23 p.m.
Massive layoffs rumored for Qualcomm
Will the statistics for the QCOM layoff be public record? (e.g. full-time vs contract employees, H1B vs. permanent US resident / citizen) ?— July 23, 2015 10:21 a.m.
Qualcomm traveling Wall Street's road
I'm not sure you can cut that many people without significantly affecting project execution. At least one analyst (Patrick Moorhead) sounds like a voice of sanity and is questioning the decisions: "Listening to the conference call, you would think it was a company losing lots of money. Qualcomm is widely profitable and this all comes off as a response to activist investors, potentially an over-reaction. The devil are always in the details and what really matters is where they are cutting costs and laying off people. I expect that those details will roll out over the next three months. I am glad to see that datacenter, small cell and IoE were discussed as growth areas as I see them as huge opportunities. " http://fortune.com/2015/07/22/qualcomm-job-cuts/?…— July 23, 2015 10:04 a.m.
Massive layoffs rumored for Qualcomm
Unfortunately I don't see things changing any time soon. I think the problem only gets mainstream attention when the abuse of the H1-B system is really blatant - like recent actions by Disney and Edison to fire IT staffs and immediately replace them with H1-B workers. Oddly, I would say the cultural differences aren't really an issue now for H1B's from India or China, as those groups are well represented in most engineering departments. Cultural differences are more of a problem for me now as an American born engineer because I'm in a small minority group. Engineering is not a really good profession for Americans to go into right now.— July 22, 2015 9:29 p.m.
Massive layoffs rumored for Qualcomm
My understanding is that H1B workers can be hired on an "at will" employment basis. I think for the most part companies don't differentiate between H1B workers and other workers in hiring / firing decisions. Whoever does the most work for the least amount of money will get hired and whoever does less work for the most money gets fired. The H1B program makes a vast shift in the supply curve for engineering labor and thus lowers the price (salary) - I bet 20-25 percent is a low estimate.— July 22, 2015 7:51 p.m.
No fun to be Qualcomm right now
Apparently JANA gets 3 seats on the board. Might as well call it JANACOMM now. http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/07/22/… "Yet the biggest news was the decision to start a comprehensive review of Qualcomm's cost structure, with its strategic realignment plan intending to cut $1.4 billion in spending by the end of fiscal 2016. The plan includes reaffirming capital-return expectations, adding new members to the board of directors, aligning executive compensation with performance, and "reviewing alternatives to the Company's corporate and financial structure," which investors took to mean that Qualcomm would think about breaking itself into multiple pieces. Activist investor JANA Partners got two seats on the board and will get a third in the near future."— July 22, 2015 7:36 p.m.
Massive layoffs rumored for Qualcomm
Let's say we look at the two extremes - full isolationist protectionism vs. complete open markets for everything. I think you're basically saying that if we have open markets for some things - say car buying - then why not have complete open markets for everything. Buy anything you want with no tariffs, hire anyone you want, etc. In principle that could work great. Problems are 1) We really don't have a free market in the U.S. We have a manipulated free market. "Crony capitalism" is a good term for it. The wealthy and powerful strongly advocate for no regulations and complete free trade and no government interference. Unless the government interference benefits them. 2) The complete open market / open borders thing doesn't really apply to H1-B's anyway. I'll admit that I don't perfectly understand the H1-B system but I do know that it is harder for an H1-B worker to change jobs from one U.S. employer to another. It sets back the time scale for when the H1-B worker might be eligible for a "green card". Thus, the H1-B workers are at an obvious disadvantage relative to US born workers when it comes to salary. It's harder for an H1-B worker to "jump ship" to get a quick 15% raise than it is for an US citizen or green card holder. This obviously will tend to hold down the H1B workers' pay. I don't think many HR departments are brazen enough to intentionally go out of their way to exploit this fact but there's obviously a big difference in the negotiating leverage an H1B worker has vs what a US citizen / perm resident has. Ultimately, wealthy leaders of the high tech industry have manufactured the false "STEM crisis" to lower wages for engineering and science labor. The results are clearly that engineering wages are kept lower and the majority of engineering hires at many major high-tech companies are H1-B and/or foreign born students. I suppose the optimists' view could be that it's a good thing that the USA is going out of our way to bring in the best and brightest from other countries. But I think that argument would really only hold if those coming to the USA for engineering jobs were given immediate permanent legal status rather than having to play the H1B game. As I've said, the H1B workers have restrictions which weaken their negotiation position. Also, eventually some of the H1B workers will return home and take expertise with them. Ultimately at this point an engineering job market has been created such that it's not worth it for young Americans to start an engineering career. I wouldn't recommend an engineering career to someone starting out now. It's clear that for the forseeable future lawmakers will work with big tech companies to make sure that wages are low enough relative to education levels and technical abilities that most jobs will come from developing countries with large populations and strong primary math education— July 21, 2015 10:12 p.m.
Massive layoffs rumored for Qualcomm
This Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) article is a good read regarding the H1B / supposed STEM shortage issue, http://spectrum.ieee.org/at-work/education/the-st…— July 20, 2015 11:26 p.m.
Massive layoffs rumored for Qualcomm
John my perception is that QCOM tries to find the best candidates for engineering jobs, has a rigorous interview process, and hires the best possible candidate at a competitive, but not excessive wage. The problem is the law of supply and demand. By lobbying for more H1B visas, QCOM greatly increases the supply of engineers - which shifts the prices of engineering labor (i.e. salaries) lower. Basic economics. To me, I would say that means that QCOM, similar high tech companies, and the US government are actively working together to lower engineering wages. Perhaps that has some net benefit to society in the long run. But the story is not presented that way. The story presented by large corporations such as QCOM that there is a dire shortage of engineers - which is simply not true.— July 20, 2015 11:20 p.m.
Massive layoffs rumored for Qualcomm
What comments about H1Bs do you claim are incorrect and what proof do you have that they are incorrect? Obviously companies are in business to make money - they have a right to do that. But the companies lobby and bribe government officials to expand the H1B levels - which I believe is in the best interests of the company but not necessarily in the best interest of the US citizens supposedly represented by those officials. I feel that's unethical and isn't right for the companies or the government officials. Again, if you have any specific comments which you claim are wrong and you want to post data which contradicts other comments then feel free to do so.— July 20, 2015 11:14 p.m.