Jaishankar Stresses Need for Global Workforce Amid US H-1B Fee Hike.
In a veiled message to US President Donald Trump, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Thursday underlined the inevitability of a “global workforce,” arguing that many countries cannot meet labour demand from their own populations.
Speaking at an event hosted by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, Jaishankar noted that demographics alone cannot sustain economies in several nations.
“There is a reality. You cannot run away from it. Where the global workforce is to be housed and located may be a matter of political debate. But there is no getting away. If you look at demand and demographics, demands cannot be met in many countries purely out of national demographics,” he said.
The remarks came as Trump’s administration rolled out a steep USD 100,000 fee on H-1B visas, a move that disproportionately impacts Indian professionals who make up nearly three-quarters of visa recipients. The programme is a crucial pathway for Indian talent in technology, medicine, and engineering sectors in the US.
Jaishankar called for creating a “more acceptable, contemporary, efficient” global workforce model that allows talent to be distributed across regions, framing it as a pressing international economic challenge.
The new H-1B fee, on top of already high application and legal costs, risks making the programme prohibitively expensive for both workers and employers, potentially squeezing the US tech sector’s access to global talent.
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