Foreign tech workers still subject of debate

Date: Wednesday, June 12, 2002 6:14 PM

*** H-1B NEWSLETTER ***

Get the Facts on H-1B at
www.ZaZona.com

If you get Norm Matloff's newsletter ignore this one.

The enclosed article cites some of the industry lobbyists' favorite
arguments. I'll comment on a few of them:

But proponents of the immigration program say that shortages in
certain specialties still exist and point out that the influx of
foreign laborers has slowed. And they say the charge of underpaying
is simply not true.

First of all, we actually don't know whether the influx of H-1Bs has
slowed since the industry downturn began in late 2000. The reason for
this is that in 2000 Congress not only increased the H-1B quota, but
also added in large exempt categories. The INS' 2001 H-1B count and the
partial count for 2002 do not include the exempt numbers, and no counts
of the nonexempt numbers have been released. In other words, the 2001
and partial 2002 H-1B counts are not comparable to the 2000 count.

As to H-1Bs being underpaid, this is a FACT. This is not just anecdote,
but the findings of statistical studies, including those from several
universities and from the National Research Council. (Note that the NRC
study, released in late 2000, was commissioned by Congress.)

She said that the number of engineering grads coming out of U.S.
schools peaked in 1987 at about 25,000. Now that number is under
13,000, and the unemployment rate for engineers is only 1.9 percent,
Ms. Collins said.

The number of engineering graduates is basically irrelevant to the H-1B
issue, because the vast majority of high-tech H-1Bs are programmers, not
engineers. Among the H-1B workers, computer science graduates outnumber
the electrical engineering graduates 15-to-1. Computer science
enrollment has more than doubled in the last 10 years.

TI brought in 225 H-1B workers in 2000, compared with 178 in 2001,
Ms. Collins said. And that number is certain to drop again for 2002.

The reporter should have asked the percentage drop in new technical job
openings at Collins' firm during that period. I believe he would have
found that the drop in new jobs was far sharper than the drop in H-1Bs
hired.

As far as a pay gap, Ms. Collins said, U.S. law requires employers to
pay H-1Bs at least 95 percent of the average salary paid to an
American worker for the same job.

There are tons of loopholes in the law on the pay issue. See the
details in my updated congressional testimony, but suffice it to say
quote immigration attorney Joel Stewart, who boasted in the online
lawyer's publication Immigration Daily concerning the greencard process,
"Employers who favor aliens have an arsenal of legal means to reject all
U.S. workers who apply."

Note that TI in particular has publicly stated that they viewed the H-1B
program as a means of holding down salary costs.

By the way, note the following:

Natalia Poliakova, an immigration attorney with Florida-based Becker
& Poliakoff PA who specializes in H-1B visa applications, said
companies such as TI are turning to Asia and Russia and other former
Soviet countries for engineers because the tech specialists they need
don't exist in the United States.

"The U.S. is not very strong in the training of engineers," she said.
Ms. Poliakova said the annual cap of 195,000 visas is reasonable, but
she expects the number to be lowered to around 95,000 next year.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

This may be a rare look at the lobbying strategy the industry lobbyists
and the AILA are planning: Demand that Congress make the 195K cap
permanent, and then settle for a "compromise" of 95K, still 30% higher
than the 65K level which the cap would revert to next year in the
absence of congressional action. My guess is that part of that
"compromise" will include the creation of even more exempt categories
and even more loopholes in the prevailing-wage requirements.

Norm

Foreign tech workers still subject of debate;
Backers say program supplies needed specialists; foes cite domestic
unemployment
By Victor Godinez
The Dallas Morning News, June 9, 2002

The job market for IT workers may be cold, but the debate over importing
foreign technology workers remains hot.

Critics accuse employers of importing foreign staff because they can pay
the workers less and say that companies aren't willing to invest in
retraining American workers.

But proponents of the immigration program say that shortages in certain
specialties still exist and point out that the influx of foreign
laborers
has slowed. And they say the charge of underpaying is simply not true.
In
October 2000, Congress increased the number of foreign workers who could
quickly enter the country to work under the H-1B visa program. The
number
rose from 115,000 to 195,000.

But the subsequent tech meltdown that left tens of thousands of American
tech workers jobless also hit the H-1B program.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service reported in November that for
fiscal 2001 - October 2000 to October 2001 - only 163,200 H-1B visas
were
granted that counted against the 195,000 limit.
LeEarl Bryant, the Dallas-based president of IEEE-USA, the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers, said she doesn't understand
why firms went to countries such as India, China and Russia to find
those
163,200 workers.

"I think there is a surplus of citizens and permanent legal residents,
and
we're available and trainable, and they should focus on that," she said.
"There may still be some expert-expert-expert worker that they can find
easier going by H-1B, but that doesn't mean that the
expert-expert-expert
in the U.S. should remain underemployed while they go outside."

Ms. Bryant also said that many employers know they can pay H-1B workers
much less than they would have to pay American workers.

She said a headhunter she knows was recently on the verge of making an
offer to a U.S. tech worker on behalf of a client company.

"She was just about ready to do that when they called her back and said,
'Halt everything. We found an H-1B person who is cheaper. We're going to
take him,'" Ms. Bryant said. "That basically says it right there."

But Paula Collins, director of government relations for human resources
and
education at Dallas-based electronics and semiconductor maker
Texas Instruments Inc., said a domestic shortage of engineers is forcing
companies to look overseas. She emphatically denies employers are
underpaying.

She said that the number of engineering grads coming out of U.S. schools
peaked in 1987 at about 25,000.
Now that number is under 13,000, and the unemployment rate for engineers
is
only 1.9 percent, Ms. Collins said.

"Having said that, certainly the downturn in the economy has had an
impact
on hiring across the board, and we have hired fewer H-1Bs over the last
year or so than we have in the past," she said. "But we still need folks
with those very top skills."

IT brought in 225 H-1B workers in 2000, compared with 178 in 2001, Ms.
Collins said. And that number is certain to drop again for 2002.

As far as a pay gap, Ms. Collins said, U.S. law requires employers to
pay
H-1Bs at least 95 percent of the average salary paid to an American
worker
for the same job.

Natalia Poliakova, an immigration attorney with Florida-based Becker &
Poliakoff PA who specializes in H-1B visa applications, said companies
such
as TI are turning to Asia and Russia and other former Soviet countries
for
engineers because the tech specialists they need don't exist in the
United
States.

"The U.S. is not very strong in the training of engineers," she said.
Ms. Poliakova said the annual cap of 195,000 visas is reasonable, but
she
expects the number to be lowered to around 95,000 next year.

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