The opening weeks of Donald Trump's presidency have been a whirlwind. From executive orders ranging from rolling back Obamacare, to potentially removing fiduciary responsibility, to building a wall along the US-Mexican border, there's been no shortage of controversy or intrigue. Both critics and supporters of Trump were uncertain if he would follow through with many of his promises during his campaign regarding immigration, and "draining the swamp." Now, just under a month into his administration, it's becoming clear what kind of leader Donald Trump will be.
This much is clear: the actions of the Donald Trump-led United States government do nothing to thwart terrorism, nor protect anyone. In fact, Trump and his administration are fundamentally undermining the core tenants of American democracy. But regardless of the ethical and legal implications of Trump's reprehensible behavior, his actions are going to be bad for American businessesspecifically game developers who depend on foreign workers to make great games.
On September 11, 2001, the United States suffered the worst terrorist attack in the history of our country. But not a single person responsible for the attack is from any of the countries that are restricted under Trump's Executive Order. While it's true that The Islamic State controls territory in Syria and Iraq, perpetrators of terrorism in North America have been almost universally American since 9/11.
So first of all, let's put aside the notion that this ban will make America safer.
This isn't the first time America has institutionalized racism in the name of security. The internment of Japanese Americans during World War II was latter condemned by President Ronald Reagan, and reparations were given to the victims of this horrible crime. The internment was later called a "grave injustice" motivated by "racial prejudice, war hysteria and the failure of political leadership."
Of course, Trump's travel ban in particular is just illegal and unconstitutionalin addition to being ethically disgusting. But...
Let's Talk About Video Games
As I mentioned before, I want to talk about how Trump's actions are going to negatively affect game developers. I know politics tend to put a damper on things, but the actions of the US government are going to affect gamers in more prominent ways than making them take longer to get through airport security.
Video game production, and really American businesses as a whole, are getting put at serious risk.
Companies Act In Their Best Interest
In conjunction with the recent travel ban, Congress has introduced the "Protect and Grow American Jobs Act." This might sound like a good idea, and I have to say a bill that healthily protects and grows American jobs would be an outstanding ideabut that isn't quite what the act does.
The bill would nearly double the minimum salary for H-1B visa holders from $60k to $100k. For those that don't know, the H1-B visa is given to citizens of other countries with extraordinary abilities. In the case of video game developers, this applies to people like engineers, game designers, and other related jobs.
In theory, increasing the salary of H1-B visa holders is a great thing. It would increase the salaries for top talent that we get overseas.
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Unfortunately, in practice this will most likely be unsustainable. The $100k pay floor would be above what many companies can affordespecially when applied all at once to every H-1B holder across the industry, regardless company size.
And as you see from the video above, game developers utilize a lot of foreign talent.
Our school systems aren't training students to be educated workers who can perform jobs that the tech industry needs.
The Protect and Grow American Jobs Act is actually designed to force tech companies to hire American workers rather than foreign workers, by making the cost of hiring foreign workers untenable for many companies.
But there's a good reason that tech companies are hiring foreign workers that isn't just related to getting cheaper labor overseasthere simply aren't enough skilled domestic workers to fill those positions. And the reason for that goes back to another part of the political debate.
America's Education System Is Really Bad
Considering the unemployment rate of the United States at the time of the election in 2016 was a minuscule 4.6%just 1.6% over what economists call "Full Employment"and that's down from the insane 10% unemployment present when President Obama took office, it's safe to say the United States has come a long way in putting people back to work.
You simply can't just force companies to hire the remaining 4.6% of US citizens, considering how under-educated we are as a nation. The United States ranks 17th overall in education, below most of East Asia, as well as Western and Northern Europe.
If companies are forced to pay H1-B visa holders $100K a year, they will be faced with choosing from a myriad of bad options.
Our school systems aren't training students to be educated workers who can perform the high pressure, technical jobs that the gaming industry needs.
So they find workers over seas.
See also:
Gaming Figures Are Speaking Out Against Trump's "Disgusting" Muslim Ban
What Does A Donald Trump Presidency Mean For Video Games?
President Trump May Pass A Trade Tariff That Makes Gaming 10% More Expensive
Donald Trump Has Some Bad News For Nintendo
Don't be fooled by thinking companies are just taking the easy way out. It's a royal pain to get an H-1B visa, even for people from Canadalet alone from Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, or even South America. The cost of relocating workers, applying for and securing a visa, and the hassle and logistics of doing both, is much more difficult than simply hiring an American worker.
It's because of this that companies tend to hire Americans whenever possibleand yet companies still hire many foreign-born workers. This isn't because it's cheaper, and it sure as hell isn't because it's easier. It's because that's the only option many companies are left with.
So If They Can't Hire Americans And Can't Afford Foreigners, Then What?
Ah yes, and therein lies the problem.
If game developers are forced to pay H1-B visa holders $100 grand a year, they'll be faced with choosing from a myriad of bad options:
Firing their needed employees
Losing qualified workers
Hiring unqualified workers
Working understaffed
Operating over-budget or at a loss
Do I really need to explain what can happen to games if bad designers and engineers end up at AAA publishers and developers? Allow this recent article to paint an illustration.
Yeah, not pretty.
The attack on foreigners in the United States is racist, xenophobic, unconstitutional, unhelpful, unethical, and not based on reality or fact in any way. It will only serve to hurt our companies, our interests, our businesses and our people.
And our video games will suck, too.
What do you think about Donald Trump's racist crusade against foreigners?