Amid the ongoing H-1B row, Donald Trump’s aide said firms are relying on AI and not hiring ‘new kids’
President Donald Trump’s economic advisor Kevin Hassett predicted a ‘quiet time’ in the labor market and said companies won’t have to hire “the new kids out of college” as firms are largely depending on AIs. Social media users pointed out that the population whom he called new kids are reeling under frustration because they are unemployed. “There could be a little bit of, almost, quiet time in the labor market, because firms are finding that AI is making their workers so productive that they don’t necessarily have to hire the new kids out of college and so on,” Hassett said, assuring that AI-induced softness in the market would be temporary. The comment came amid a fresh MAGA civil war over H-1B, the visa program that allows US tech companies to hire skilled foreigners. The Donald Trump administration announced a $100,000 fee for fresh hiring of H-1Bs sending a strong signal against foreigners stealing American jobs, but the signal got mixed when Donald Trump, in a FOX interview, said America needs certain talents from foreign countries. In the FOX interview, Trump cited the example of Korean battery workers and said that kind of expertise is needed in America. “You don’t have certain talents, and people have to learn. You can’t take people off an unemployment line and say ‘I’m gonna put you into a factory and we’re going to make missiles,'” he said. He elaborated on his H-1B comment Monday and clarified that America needs certain talents until Americans learn those. For example, Trump cited chip-making skill which he said America allowed Taiwan to take.Republican Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis are against H-1B. Greene announced a bill to end the H-1B program altogether before her major fallout with Trump took place. Ron DeSantis already banned H-1B in Florida universities. “Republicans have a majority in Congress and could legislate elimination of H-1B (and any programs designed to import cheap foreign labor). Deeds, not words, are what matter,” DeSantis said, adding that if America needs exceptionally skilled people, they can come through an O-1 visa.
