Is recession really closing doors for us?

It is official now, with Obama saying that it will take years to recover from recession. The problem of recession started with subprime crisis in year 2007, but a recession was declared much later and what followed after that, everyone knows.

Few days back, I read an article by Professor Jagdish Bhagwati, international economist and Professor in Economics Department at Columbia University, USA. He argued that the provision to restrict hiring of H1-B visaholders would deprive the US of the best global talent which comes in the form of highly trained and talented people. To quote his words: "In terms of broader considerations like the people who are coming in on H1-B visas - they're frequently highly trained and talented people and a lot of our progress and prosperity depend on having such people". He stressed that it is not appropriate to blame H1-B workers, as many of them eventually settle down in US, form new IT companies and provide job opportunities to American nationals as well.

I agree with thoughts of Prof. Bhagwati to a some extent. At the same time, I feel bad about millions of people loosing their jobs or business globally. I also understand that it is right of every country to protect it's own benefits first. Even Canada is gearing up for reducing immigration to reduce the impact of financial crisis. After having spent twenty one months in America by now, I can say that Americans have provided a great environment for growth and that's why individuals from all over the world see it as right place to work and grow.

In past few weeks, I read many news articles about increasing problems for H1-B workers in USA. With US stimulus bill in place, the US Congress has barred firms receiving government bailout from hiring Indians and other foreign workers through the skilled US visa worker visa (H1-B) programme, if they are replacing American workers. As a result, H1-B workers will have some impact, and that will impact Indian nationals too. Why I am saying "some" here is because of two reasons. First one is that the stimulus bill bars companies from hiring H1-B workers, but does not seem to stop companies from having H1-B contractors (not employees). Second reason is that not all the companies have opted for bailout package. Since it is global recession now, the overall business scenario of companies in US and across the globe is getting worse everyday. Whether we are in US, India or any other country, there will be impact on many of us. We all can see that everyone is sticking to their current job somehow. Attrition rate in companies has gone down.

I can write much more about the recession and the impact, but here is another way of looking at it too. We all have seen India growing at a very fast pace in last few years, yet there is lot more to transform things at grass root level. May be that this recession has brought some hidden light for us, or has given us a way to re-think about our priorities. Today, with almost every country having dependency on other countries, it is nearly impossible for a country to be isolated from impact of global meltdown. However, India still holds a good financial position comparatively. A lot can be done in India, whether it be in professional career, or for the growth of unprivileged society. Why not we realize our power within and take a step ahead to projects/ideas, to take the nation forward? Let's not be afraid of failures on the way. Failure is one of the very powerful ways to learn. In today's world, it does not matter where you are located. What matters is your thought and actions to make a difference. Many professionals like us have already starting working on related projects. You can find information on such projects in my earlier posts. Let's join our hands together to make India a better place for everyone.

Thanks for dropping by. Your comments are source of encouragement for me. I will be glad to hear from you.
You can also indicate your opinion using the check box below.
You can share this article with your contact(s) using the link below.