Posted on 02/24/2014 6:07:03 AM PST by Moseley
Amnesty is being driven, among others, by big businesses claiming they cannot hire enough high-tech professionals. These are (or posture as) major donors to members of Congress. So these businesses are twisting arms on Capitol Hill. The compromise is that Democrats get amnesty for illegal aliens if business gets more high-tech foreign workers. However, in fact, there is no shortage of high-tech professionals in the USA. Businesses do not need immigration reform.
On August 30, 2013, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers published a review of this question in its journal Spectrum, titled "The STEM Crisis Is a Myth." "STEM" jobs are those in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
The IEEE reports: "Every year U.S. schools grant more STEM degrees than there are available jobs. When you factor in H-1B visa holders, existing STEM degree holders, and the like, it's hard to make a case that there's a STEM labor shortage." The IEEE describes itself as the world's largest professional association dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence in science and engineering for the benefit of humanity.
The IEEE article continues to the effect that "there are more STEM workers than suitable jobs. One study found, for example, that wages for U.S. workers in computer and math fields have largely stagnated since 2000. Even as the Great Recession slowly recedes, STEM workers at every stage of the career pipeline, from freshly minted grads to mid- and late-career Ph.D.s, still struggle to find employment as many companies, including Boeing, IBM, and Symantec, continue to lay off thousands of STEM workers."
The Washington Post reported on April 24, 2013, in "Study: There may not be a shortage of American STEM graduates after all,"
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
on a recent study by the Economic Policy Institute finding that the United States has "more than a sufficient supply of workers available to work in STEM occupations." The EPI found, for example, that many computer science graduates report that there are no jobs available in computer disciplines.
The Post also reported on July 7, 2012, in "U.S. pushes for more scientists, but the jobs aren't there," on high-tech graduates who cannot find jobs. The Post quotes Jim Austin, editor of the online magazine ScienceCareers: "And yet, it seems awfully hard for people to find a job. Anyone who goes into science expecting employers to clamor for their services will be deeply disappointed."
Journalists and politicos should have admitted this by now. Back on July 9, 2009, USA Today reported in "Scientist Shortage? Maybe Not" the findings of Michael Teitelbaum, of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in New York, that there are "substantially more scientists and engineers" graduating from the USA's universities than can find attractive jobs. The Foundation funds basic scientific, economic, and civic research. USA Today chronicled high unemployment, drawn from the U.S. Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics, among scientists and engineers in the U.S.
The IEEE article also explained: "What's perhaps most perplexing about the claim of a STEM worker shortage is that many studies have directly contradicted it, including reports from Duke University, the Rochester Institute of Technology, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the Rand Corp. A 2004 Rand study, for example, stated that there was no evidence 'that such shortages have existed at least since 1990, nor that they are on the horizon.' That report argued that the best indicator of a shortfall would be a widespread rise in salaries throughout the STEM community. But the price of labor has not risen, as you would expect it to do if STEM workers were scarce."
And: "Viewed another way, about 15 million U.S. residents hold at least a bachelor's degree in a STEM discipline, but three-fourths of them-11.4 million-work outside of STEM." Therefore, "If there is in fact a STEM worker shortage, wouldn't you expect more people with STEM degrees to be filling those jobs?"
Most of the IEEE article documents the confusion and inconsistency in the data and terminology, rendering claims of a shortage doubtful. But the IEEE analyzed all of this as follows: "Now, if you apply the Commerce Department's definition of STEM to the NSF's annual count of science and engineering bachelor's degrees, that means about 252 000 STEM graduates emerged in 2009. So even if all the STEM openings were entry-level positions and even if only new STEM bachelor's holders could compete for them, that still leaves 70 000 graduates unable to get a job in their chosen field."
I do contract work. I have seen “tech” companies offering teens per hour to do high level server work or cabling jobs (you need to be licensed in this state for that)..
You are correct. it’s not that people won’t do it. it’s that they won’t do it for their low wage offering.
Amnesty is being driven, among others, by big businesses claiming they cannot hire enough high-tech professionals.
Which has what to do with amnesty? They can not seriously be claiming that there a thousands of high skilled qualified workers coming into our country by swimming across the Rio Grande or crawling through tunnels!
Big businesses that make that claim lie.
A couple of years ago I saw a help-wanted ad for what appeared to be someone to test the software that runs GPS receivers. Not the software that does the "In 100 yards turn right" navigation, but the actual software that turns the data from the satellites into a position.
They were willing to pay $33 per hour, no benefits.
In Los Angeles.
That's not even new-grad pay, and that's not a job most new grads could do.
It was fairly clear they were working to build a case that "There are no Americans to do this work; we need an H1b visa for Apu to fill this critical need".
They would then get the visa, Apu would come in and share a studio apartment with Ajit and Samir and Rajiv, and there's another American out of a job.
I’m seeing the same sort of thing.
See Post 6.
I’m seeing the same thing.
Intel just setup early retirement for 5k employees in Design.
Not just paper pushers but experienced semi designers.
They are NOT offering retirement packages in any 3rd world location. Only USA employees.
High tech workers need to start competing businesses or consulting groups and start competing with the ‘big boys’ who wouldn’t hire them. Undercut businesses who try to outsource over seas. It’s the only way begin to right this sinking ship! All that raw talent in terms of engineers, software writers, electrical engineers and technicians not working.They need to get together, there’s a lot of spare junk laying around...even if some of it a few years out of date.
We need to innovate or die! This monstrosity of a government will crash under its own weight and we’ll need solutions ready when the rebuilding occurs...
I have tried repeatedly to get out of work engineers and technicians together with little result. It’s very frustrating and they would rather complain than take the initiative. Things in the engineering community are not going to change, economically speaking, in my opinion so it’s time to do something about it from the bottom up.
And yes, employers are bottom feeding when it comes to hiring. Wage offerings are often less than half, yes half, of what they were even a year ago. Call a recruiter and tell them you want a contract design position for $65 an hour and find out. That used to be considered about average not long ago.
...for the low salaries they want to pay.
It's Free Market 101: if there's a shortage of something (e.g. skilled labor), the price has to go up to bring in more supply.
The worst part is that this sort of dishonest greed (as opposed to the honest greed that inspires people to get rich by creating and selling useful things) undercuts faith in free enterprise and lays the groundwork for "eat the 1%ers" rhetoric.
Both shamnesty and the H1B visa scam are driven by the same criminals.
Immigration bump for later.........
There are a lot of high tech workers but not many who can actually do the work. Finding English-speaking programmers is still very hard to do. China puts out a ton of them but you can’t understand them.
How does the GOP gain politically with tech visas when they say we don’t want additional poor hispanic immigrants and we dont want to help American tech workers.
It is like they pick a random a supposedly harmless category of immigration and vote to expand it, so the media doesn’t call them racist.
https://cis.org/north/house-committee-votes-admit-more-stem-workers-than-supply
In its eagerness to meet the wishes of the high tech industry — and steal jobs from qualified American workers — the Republican majority on the committee, with the single, commendable exception of Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), voted to allow as many as 55,000 green cards to be issued annually to aliens with advanced science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) degrees from American universities.
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