GAO to study impact of H-1B program on hiring

Date: Thursday, September 12, 2002 2:55 PM

*** H-1B NEWSLETTER ***

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The first thing to notice about this article is the way claims of U.S.
workers are trivialized - they are called "anecdotal". The term "anecdotal"
is used so often in this fashion by reporters I must wonder if Harris Miller
feeds it to them. I have yet to hear one news article ever label Harris
Miller's propaganda as anecdotal even though the GAO said that his method of
obtaining data is not scientific and therefore not reliable for analyzing
the labor market - in other words ANECDOTAL!

Miller is allowed to say "The numbers speak for themselves" as some kind of
argument to end all arguments. Why didn't the reporter ask him what numbers
he was referring to? The fact that there are at least 1.5 million H-1Bs
working in the US during times of high unemployment speaks very loudly.

The twisted logic in the following paragraph shouldn't even be fit for
printing:

The downturn shows that H-1B's critics are wrong about the
visa program serving as a supply of cheap labor, he said.
"If they [the H-1B opponents] were right, which they are not,
there would just be as many H-1Bs today as a year ago," said
Miller. Given the pressure on companies to cut payroll, he
said, wouldn't they use "more H-1Bs rather than less H-1Bs
during an economic downturn?"

Why didn't the reporter ask Harris Miller if the percentage of H-1Bs to
citizens has increased lately?

http://www.computerworld.com/careertopics/careers/labor/story/0,10801,74156,00.html

GAO to study impact of H-1B program on hiring

By PATRICK THIBODEAU
SEPTEMBER 11, 2002

WASHINGTON -- There's no shortage of anecdotal reports from U.S. workers

that the H-1B visa program is costing Americans jobs. But proving it has
been elusive because companies don't disclose whom they hire or lay off.
That's a problem facing the U.S. General Accounting Office as it embarks on
a study to answer a question posed by two Democrats on the U.S. House
Science Committee: Do companies show a preference for retaining H-1B
workers, and if so, why?

The GAO study, due out sometime next year, is expected to arrive during a
congressional debate on whether the cap on the controversial program should
be allowed to shrink from 195,000, its level for the past two fiscal years,
to 65,000 after the next fiscal year ends on Sept. 30, 2003.

The H-1B program is a contentious issue in the technology community. Critics
charge that in many cases, foreign workers are hired because of their
willingness to work for lower wages and fewer benefits. Industry groups
counter that the U.S. doesn't supply enough workers with technical skills to
meet demand. H-1B employees, hired for certain technical skills, can work in
the U.S. for six years through the visa program, and possibly longer under
some exceptions.

The value of the upcoming report will rest on the strength of its data. But
GAO officials haven't determined how to research the H-1B program's impact,
and agency officials are now planning to meet with House Science Committee
staff members to discuss a research methodology, according to agency and
congressional staff members.

The plan is already drawing criticism from one H-1B advocate. Harris Miller,
who heads the Information Technology Association of America in Arlington,
Va., said he believes that the latest H-1B usage data is proof enough that
the program isn't being abused.

The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service recently reported that it
granted 60,500 H-1B visas in the nine-month period that ended June 30,
representing a 54% drop from the same period last year.

"The numbers speak for themselves," said Miller. The downturn shows that
H-1B's critics are wrong about the visa program serving as a supply of cheap
labor, he said.

"If they [the H-1B opponents] were right, which they are not, there would
just be as many H-1Bs today as a year ago," said Miller. Given the pressure
on companies to cut payroll, he said, wouldn't they use "more H-1Bs rather
than less H-1Bs during an economic downturn?"

But George McClure, who heads the career policy committee of the Institute
of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., points to rising unemployment
numbers for computer and electronics engineers, along with reports from IEEE
members who say they have lost jobs to H-1B workers.

"We've got lots of unemployed members ... who can do the jobs that they are
bringing in H-1Bs for," said McClure. He said he has heard from engineers
who were instructed to train H-1B visa holders and were then laid off.

But McClure said he doesn't know how the GAO can accurately assess the
situation, other than to talk to affected workers and hear their stories.

"If the concern is with unemployment, then they ought to be talking to some
of the people who are unemployed," said McClure.

U.S. Reps. James Barcia and Lynn Rivers, both Michigan Democrats and House
Science Committee members, requested the GAO study a year ago. The GAO
divided their request into two parts, starting with a study on the
effectiveness of a training program that has been funded through H-1B fees.
That report is due in a matter of weeks.

The H-1B training program, which has collected $138 million fees paid by
employers who sponsor H-1B visa holders, has been called "ineffective" by
the Bush administration because it isn't providing training that would
lessen demand for H-1B workers.

These visa holders typically have bachelor's and, in many cases, advanced
degrees. But a lot of the training programs are being used to prepare
workers for low-tech jobs such as installing cable, the administration said.

The Bush administration's position was determined before anyone had
evaluated the training program, said one congressional staff member familiar
with the GAO study. That study may yet find some value in the program, he
said.

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