It's not only fair, it's standard practice.
It's not standard practice in Australia. If you are a QUALIFIED teacher (ie the only ones that can be employed) then you are paid local wages for your experience and qualifications. The same with any other job. Backpackers, the unskilled do NOT get paid more than locals for any position they take on.
And I doubt that every expat in the States gets paid the highest wages. Ask a few Mexicans, South Americans or Cubans - even the ones who are there legally. (Also see below for the reality)
And do you really think the American teacher would resent his colleague's free ticket home for Xmas?
Yes - they would. Why should an expat be given extra advantages over locals? That person CHOSE to relocate. Should people who move from Texas to Montana be given airfares back home as well??
Do you feel guilty that you're making too much money?
Sometimes. But not enough to give it back!
Precisely my point: to go home costs me nearly 12,000 kwai for the ticket and at least 400 kwai a day while I'm at home. This is a cost that Chinese don't bear.
And you get probably at least double the money they do - with the same cost of living here. The Chinese also have other costs that we don't bear - taxes, extended family commitments, paying for accommodation, health care, internet connection, electricity, gas etc.
And - the facts don't stand up to the claims. These companies are hiring people with specialised skills in industries of need. Do they offer return airfare, accommodation etc?
By Jon Dougherty
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
A new report says foreigners granted temporary visas to work in the United States are paid far less than their American counterparts, despite a federal law requiring employers to provide them with fair compensation.
The Center for Immigration Studies said the visa program, known as H1-B, allows U.S. firms to hire professional-level workers from other countries for periods up to six years, provided they are paid the same as comparable American workers or the "prevailing wage" for that job, whichever is higher.
John Miano, author of the study, said the law was designed "to prevent the hiring of foreign workers from depressing U.S. wages and to protect foreign workers from exploitation."
But, he says, according to federal wage data provided by the U.S. Department of Labor, computer programming firms are instead, on average, paying foreign workers far less than American workers.
Among Miano's findings:
* On average, H1-B applications for foreign computer workers were for wages $13,000 less than for American employees in the same occupation and state.
* Wages for H1-B workers are "overwhelmingly concentrated at the bottom of the U.S. pay scale."
* Nearly half of applications for H1-B computer programming workers (47 percent) "were for wages below even the prevailing wage claimed by their employers," while just 4 percent were among the top 25 percent of wages for equivalent U.S. workers.
* Employers hiring more H1-B workers tend to pay them less than comparable U.S. workers; employers making application for more than 100 H1-B workers pay them $9,000 less per year on average than U.S. workers doing the same job.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce also supports the program.
"In addition to essential workers, the U.S. economy continues to need access to skilled workers in many sectors. Access to technology, scientific, education, health, and engineering workers, which the United States is not producing in adequate numbers, continues to be a Chamber priority," it says.