On Sunday, nearly thirty tech workers marched to San Jose to protest the country-of-origin green card restrictions outside of a congresswoman Lofgren's house. These workers were from India and had been recruited to work in Silicon Valley with H1B visas. However, they expressed frustrations with the long wait for green cards due to the cap on how many green cards the U.S. issues to each country and the large population of India. These issues have been heightened recently with the layoffs in the tech industry because H1B visas only allow 60 days for workers to find a new employer if they lose their jobs. Ultimately, these workers want Lofgren, who is the lead sponsor on a bill to remove the national origin requirement on skilled green card applications, to bring the bill up for a vote in the upcoming week.

See "Indian tech workers in Silicon Valley protest immigration discrimination" at https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/indian-tech-workers-silicon-valley-immigration-system-stacked-against-them/, by John Ramos, CBS News, December 19, 2022



Recently, US employers have been struggling with rapidly declining worker productivity in addition to inflation and slow economic growth. There are a variety of factors causing this decrease in productivity, including elevated levels of stress and burnout. Since the pandemic, project teams have been constrained by remote work and workers are also experiencing heightened financial stress with the rising costs of living. In order to combat these issues and raise productivity, it has been suggested that companies should work to improve engagement and communication within their workplaces.

See "Worker productivity is falling at the fastest rate in four decades" at https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/18/worker-productivity-is-falling-at-the-fastest-rate-in-four-decades.html, by Susan Caminiti, CNBC, December 19, 2022

In the past year, job cuts and layoffs have risen compared to 2021. These workforce reductions have been primarily concentrated in the tech sector; however, other companies, including those in manufacturing, have also conducted layoffs recently. Some people view these layoffs as unnecessary and Scroogelike given the holidays coming up. Workers who have recently been laid off have described the experience as being extremely stressful, and research indicates a correlation between layoffs and negative health effects. Furthermore, often times layoffs do not successfully cut costs because they fail to address businesses' underlying problems.

See "'Heartless' mass layoffs hit US workers ahead of holidays" at https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/dec/18/layoffs-us-companies-workers-holidays-christmas, by Michael Sainato, The Guardian, December 19, 2022