NPR Marketplace Story on H-1B

Date: Tuesday, November 06, 2007 4:51 PM

<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1778 -- 11/06/2007 >>>>>

NPR's Marketplace Morning Report did a brief story on H-1B. I was interviewed
for what was planned to be a much longer story, but for whatever reason
Marketplace cut it short. You can listen to the sound file by using the
Marketplace link below.

It's was an OK report until Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) got the last word.
She claimed that 365,000 jobs for computer scientists are created every year.
This statement is pure bunk and should not have gone unchallenged. The only
way the number of job openings could be over-inflated this much is if the
numbers were grabbed out of thin air, or if the number was rigged to include
anyone who works with a computer -- such as service technicians, call center
workers, cash register sales clerks, etc.

Cantwell is a Microsoft toadie, which probably explains where she got her
misinformation. Even if her figures had a grain of truth, the only number that
really counts is the number of jobs created in excess of the number of workers
that need jobs -- and that number has been running in negative territory for a
long time. Be sure to pay attention to Cantwell's last statement -- she vows
to continue to try to expand the H-1B visa program.

If you would like to send a comment to Marketplace about this story, go to
this page:

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/contact/

For more information the subject of job creation read this article I recently
published in CIO magazine:

Wadhwamania
http://advice.cio.com/rob_sanchez/wadhwamania

This one is worth reading also:

The Great H-1B Debate: Where Are All the CIOs?
http://advice.cio.com/stephanie_overby/the_great_h_1b_debate_where_are_all_the_cios

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/11/06/raising_the_h1b_cap_to_help_hightech/

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Raising the H-1B cap to help high-tech

The limited number of H-1B visas available to skilled foreign workers in the

U.S. is a problem for smaller high-tech firms, who get beaten out by big fish
like Microsoft. Rachel Dornhelm reports on improvements to the U.S. work visa
system.

TEXT OF STORY

Doug Krizner: In 1990, Congress created the H-1B visa program. It allows U.S.
companies to temporarily hire skilled foreign workers. But year after year,
demand for these visas outstrips supply.

For the high-tech industry, that's a problem. Rachel Dornhelm reports on
efforts to get Congress to allow more overseas workers.

Rachel Dornhelm: The government hands out new H-1B visas every fiscal year to
companies eager for the talent. These visas go fast, and they are capped at
85,000 for corporate workers.

Seth Sternberg: All the slots got taken up the first day applications were
available, which was April 1.

That's Seth Sternberg, co-founder of Silicon Valley high-tech start-up Meebo.
He says the government ended up distributing the visas through a lottery. He
won two this year. But Sternberg says relying on random lotteries is no way to
run a business.

Sternberg: People who have these skills are snapped up in a heartbeat.

Large tech firms, like Oracle and Microsoft, lead lobbying efforts to raise
the H-1B cap. If they're not successful, they can send foreign employees to
work in their overseas offices.

Companies like Sternberg's don't have that option, and can lose business.
Besides, Sternberg says, hiring foreigners isn't in itself a bad thing.

Sternberg: We help the America economy broadly, which I think is a goal
everyone can agree on.

Not necessarily.

Rob Sanchez: These employers, they don't feel the responsibility for hiring
American workers. And if those American workers need a skill, they don't seem
to feel the responsibility of spending the money and the time to train those
Americans with those skills.

Rob Sanchez is a software engineer in Phoenix. He says he's been fired twice,
and replaced by H-1B visa-holders.

Sanchez: Companies are dumping their older employees because they're more
expensive, and bringing in H-1B visa-holders because typically, they will work
cheaper.

But Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell from Washington State says it's more
about supply and demand.

Maria Cantwell: There's an opening for 365,000 computer scientists on an
annual basis in this country, and we're only educating about 80,000 people.

Legislation Cantwell attached to an immigration bill, allowing more skilled
foreign workers into the country, failed earlier this year. Cantwell says
she'll try again, but probably not this year.

I'm Rachel Dornhelm for Marketplace.

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