What percentage of workers left are on H1B visas, compared to before Musk took over?
I imagine that those who voluntarily left are primarily those that are not on H1B because of the difficulty and time involved finding another company that will sponsor.
This data probably isn't really determinable though.
"The vast majority needed sponsorship, and the remainder were low quality..."
What happens is that companies reject candidates if they can't write the most space and time efficient algorithm in 20 minutes for a LeetCode problem. I suspect this is a tactic just to say there are low quality candidates, and instead hire an offshore contractor, who have lower standards anyway, or an H1B, who will be more submissive. I've seen workers from India with an L-1 visa work overtime on projects.
"We were also not on the West coast..."
I'm sorry sorry you can't find candidates, but that doesn't mean there's a shortage, and it's not an excuse offshore or hire H1Bs. But who's screaming the most about shortages? It's the coastal billionaires who should have a large talent pool or people ready to move there. These billionaires would love to crush every small company in "flyover country."
The situation you describe as a shortage in a small city is understandable. Citizens may not be willing to relocate to a small city for a job. The risks are high. The company may be the only employer in town and if there is a layoff there is no where else to go. This is not a worker shortage but a point shortage due to special circumstances.
"How can you say there is a tech shortage? We just had mass layoffs because companies said we have too many employees"
Historically there have been tech shortages. I was an engineer involved in finding and interviewing candidates. The vast majority needed sponsorship, and the remainder were low quality as all the "good" engineers already had jobs at more prestigious companies than the old school fortune 500 company I worked for. We were also not on the West coast, which made it more difficult to find people willing to move to a smaller city. There were plenty of well qualified H1B candidates, and it was always a PITA to hire them because of the additional paperwork and cost to do the sponsorship, but for many many years there was nobody else, and we did pay competitive, but not top, wages.
Today, this might not be true with layoffs at Meta, Twitter, Amazon and others. It would probably be easier to find qualified engineers not requiring H1B.
How can you say there is a tech shortage? We just had mass layoffs because companies said we have too many employees. You're just repeating what Bill Gates says. What do you expect? They will say anything to make just to make more money on top of the billions they already make. Or are you saying an H1B from India who has to be hand held for everything and sometimes knows less than a college graduate is more skilled than a U.S. citizen/permanent resident?
Non partisan academic studies have shown known there is no shortage of tech workers. The large influx of H-1B workers occurred during the late 1990s Internet bubble. When the layoffs hit after September 11 the cheaper H-1B workers were kept and citizens were laid off. Companies soon realized that they could replace mid level and senior engineers with entry level H-1B workers. They kept only enough senior citizen engineers to keep the wheels turning. This has been going on for more than 20 years. Citizens have come to realize that there is no long time stable career in engineering. If there was a true shortage people would rush to study engineering. The H-1B is market distortion perpetuated by corporations and corrupt politicians buttressed by fake studies.
"Why should America employ the rest of the world"
From my experience (not at Twitter) it is because there are not enough tech workers in the US. We always had to open up positions to those needing sponsorship because the competition for workers was difficult. We would have always preferred hiring citizens, permanent residents, of others that don't need sponsorship. It generally is not cheaper to bring in those on H1B.
Why should America employ the rest of the world. I don’t care what race or ethnic group they belong too as long as they are US citizens.
Well, with the typical xenophobic response out of the way...
Yes, there are problems with the H1B program, but they are generally abuses by corporations abetted by the politicians they've purchased (in both parties).
In response to the original question: yes, I believe that many of the employees who accepted the terms of "Twitter 2.0" would be H1B workers who have fewer options. They will be exploited by Musk, forced to work 60+ hours a week, until they can find someone else to sponsor them. I feel bad for them but don't expect the NLRB to step in to protect them (but they should).
Wow, showing your ignorance. As an American citizen, I get paid the same as a H1-B. It’s not Facebook, it’s Meta now. There are no accommodations. Everyone laid off have the same termination date, stop spreading lies.