1-23-2004
Foreign Tech Workers Finding Jobs Stateside In Healthier Economy
Is there still a shortage of skilled U.S. tech workers?
Was there really one at the height of the tech boom?
Broad studies of employment and pay cast some doubt on that widely held belief, which in years past spurred the nation to let in more foreign workers.
Yet corporate America claims the shortage was real. Some recruiters say it lasted even through the downturn, and persists today amid some new challenges.
Companies still have a hard time finding qualified tech workers, says Jason Kreuser, a recruiter at New York software developer Information Builders Inc. He says talent from abroad often arrives versed in the technical knowledge needed to do the nitty-gritty programming his company needs.
Why is there any need for foreign workers as U.S. firms continue slashing tech jobs?
That's a matter of debate. On one hand, data suggest a surplus of certain skilled U.S. workers. On the other, some companies say when looking for specific technical expertise, they have to widen their horizons beyond U.S. borders.
A study out Wednesday from the Washington, D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute found that after the recession's job losses, growth in higher-paying fields is giving way, in nearly all states, to lower-paying industries.
People Get Ready
"Most responsible for this shift are declines in the manufacturing and information sectors and a rise in leisure and hospitality, which has more lower-paid jobs"
Cost pressure and desire for profit has led many U.S. firms to outsource to countries like India, where wages for skilled workers are lower. Is the same frugality afoot when firms hire foreign workers on visas?
Are some of those foreigners filling jobs that could be held by Americans? Research on things like tech pay bolsters the view, says Michael Teitelbaum, a noted demographer at the nonprofit Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in New York.
"The H1B program and its tripling was basically the product of political lobbying by a few companies and industries and immigration attorneys," he said.
No Pay Increases
"In the extraordinary boom of the Internet, the boom in telecom, the Y2K boom - with all that happening simultaneously, you would have expected pay to rise," said Teitelbaum. "It didn't turn up in the data."
He says shortsighted planning in the tech industry leads to a greater reliance on foreign workers. Planning a little further ahead would allow better employment prospects and specific on-the-job tech training for Americans.
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"Yet corporate America claims the shortage was real. Some recruiters say it lasted even through the downturn, and persists today amid some new challenges." Yep, let em all in an give them a License and Citizenship.
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