Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2006 00:14:55 -0700
From: Norm Matloff <matloff@cs.ucdavis.edu>
To: Norm Matloff <matloff@cs.ucdavis.edu>
Subject: LA Times article fails to delve
To: H-1B/L-1/offshoring e-newsletter
Readers of this e-newsletter can be broken down into "techies" (engineers and
programmers) and "newsies" (journalists, university and government
researchers, political staffers, etc.). I constantly hear from the techies
that the press is highly biased in favor of the industry on the H-1B issue.
My standard reply is that the vast majority of journalists are impartial,
though far too many of them are too formulaic ("he said, she said, that's
all") in their reporting.
I am always very reluctant to attribute bias, but at the very least one can
say that the enclosed article is unbalanced, whether deliberately or not. I
actually decided to quantify it, by counting lines of text. Turns out that
there are 93 lines which quote advocates of increasing the H-1B cap and
liberalizing the green card process, but only 24 lines quoting the critics of
these programs.
It's not just a question of line counts. I'm more worried about omission of
centrally relevant information. Consider this excerpt, for instance:
# But critics of the H-1B program argue that there are enough Americans
# qualified for the jobs. Companies just prefer to hire younger, less
# expensive workers from other countries, such as India and China,
# instead of more experienced American workers at higher salaries.
# "The bottom line is cheap labor," said UC Davis computer-science
# professor Norman Matloff, who has studied the H-1B program.
# The six-year visas are available to foreigners with at least a
# bachelor's degree. Firms must pay foreign workers the prevailing wage.
Well, so much for this guy Matloff, eh? :-) Firms must pay prevailing
wage, end of story, Matloff is wrong (and by extension so are the
other critics of the H-1B program).
When the reporter interviewed me, I explained to her that the prevailing
wage requirement is useless, due to gaping loopholes, and that a number
of university and government studies have confirmed that the H-1Bs are
indeed on average paid less than Americans. Yet the reader sees none of
this. It could be that the material was edited out, thus not the
reporter's fault, but in any case it's disappointing.
Also, one of the themes of the article (including the headline, though
again it's put in by the editor rather than the reporter) is that
employers supposedly hire H-1Bs because not enough Americans have
graduate degrees. The employers hire new foreign graduates of U.S.
schools. I had made sure to point the reporter to the wage data,
showing that starting salaries for new graduates with Master's degrees
in computer science and electrical engineering have been FLAT since
1999, thereby showing we have no shortage at the graduate degree level.
Yet again, nothing about that here.
One interesting aspect of the article is the quotes in which H-1Bs
(Gareth Lloyd and Swadha Sharma) present themselves as being such
wonderful assets to the U.S. I was a bit startled to see such a display
of immodesty, especially since these workers don't seem to be of
outstanding talent, judging by the descriptions in the article.
As many readers of this e-newsletter will recall, I strongly support the
notion of rolling out the immigration red carpet for "the best and the
brightest." I have personally championed the hiring and green card
sponsorship of many foreign nationals, mainly Chinese and Indian, of
outstanding levels of talent. But the vast majority of H-1Bs are
ordinary people doing ordinary work, apparently including those profiled
here.
Norm
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-skilledvisa3jul03,1,6524150.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-california&ctrack=1&cset=true
Access to Job Market in U.S. a Matter of Degrees
Foreign workers with high-tech skills are in demand, but visa quotas
snarl the hiring process.
By Anna Gorman, Times Staff Writer
July 3, 2006
This spring, a U.S. high-tech company recruited British citizen Gareth
Lloyd for a possible engineering job.
But before the Irvine office made its hiring decision, the number of
available visas for skilled workers ran out, in a record time of less
than two months.
Lloyd, who has degrees in applied physics and electrical and
electronics engineering, found another job in Germany.
"I was a little bit incredulous," Lloyd, 34, said in a phone
interview. "It seems arbitrary to put some kind of quota on this."
Much of the national debate on immigration has centered on
undocumented workers who fill agriculture, construction and service
jobs. But highly skilled foreign scientists, engineers and computer
programmers recruited by U.S. companies to work here legally also have
a lot at stake in the outcome. "The major focus for all the laws and
all the bills has mainly been for illegal immigrants," said Swati
Srivastava, an Indian software engineer who lives in Playa del Rey and
is waiting for her green card. "We kind of get pushed to the
sidelines."
The Senate's sweeping immigration bill that passed in May calls for
increasing the number of H-1B visas, which are available for
professional foreign workers, from 65,000 to 115,000 annually.
Foreigners with certain advanced degrees would be exempt from the cap.
Despite President Bush's urging to increase such quotas, however, the
House bill that passed late last year does not include any provisions
for skilled-worker visas. And a conference committee, which would
negotiate a compromise, has yet to be selected. U.S. companies
complain that they are losing prospective employees to other countries
because of a shortage of highly skilled and educated foreign workers.
As a result, companies are either outsourcing science and engineering
jobs or making do with fewer employees.
"There aren't enough U.S. citizens pursuing those types of degrees,"
said Jennifer Greeson, spokeswoman for Intel Corp. in Santa Clara,
Calif., where about 5% of the company's U.S.-based employees are on
H-1B visas. "U.S. companies being able to have access to talent, no
matter where it originates, is key to our continued competitiveness."
But critics of the H-1B program argue that there are enough Americans
qualified for the jobs. Companies just prefer to hire younger, less
expensive workers from other countries, such as India and China,
instead of more experienced American workers at higher salaries.
"The bottom line is cheap labor," said UC Davis computer-science
professor Norman Matloff, who has studied the H-1B program.
The six-year visas are available to foreigners with at least a
bachelor's degree. Firms must pay foreign workers the prevailing wage.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency begins accepting
H-1B visa applications on April 1 each year. The agency received
enough visas to hit the congressionally mandated cap of 65,000 at the
end of May this year, compared with August in 2005 and October in
2004. Those who receive the visas can begin work Oct. 1, the start of
the fiscal year.
There are also 20,000 additional visas available for foreign workers
who earned a master's or higher-level degree in the U.S. The
Citizenship and Immigration Services is still accepting applications
for those visas.
Because the H-1B cap is reached more quickly each year, many companies
prepare their paperwork ahead of time so they can be at the front of
the line. But they say it's often difficult to make hiring decisions
six months before the start date.
Orange County immigration attorney Mitchell Wexler has a courier ready
on the first day to take his clients' completed applications to
Citizenship and Immigration Services.
"The whole white-collar business community is kind of crossing our
fingers" that the number of visas is raised, Wexler said. Highly
skilled foreign workers, he said, are "the best and brightest" and
should be invited into the economy.
"If we can't get them," Wexler added, "they will go to a country that
will accept them, and they will get jobs in Canada, Australia and
England and will compete against us."
One of Wexler's clients, Massachusetts-based Skyworks Solutions,
develops and manufactures integrated circuits for cellphones. Connie
Williams, senior human resources specialist at the company's Irvine
office, said her firm was effectively cut off from a foreign labor
pool that included Lloyd of Britain when the government stopped
accepting H-1B applications.
Williams said she worries that if Congress fails to pass reform
legislation, the door will slam shut even earlier next year. The
company has just over 2,000 U.S.-based employees, roughly 100 of whom
have H-1B visas.
"We need these highly skilled, highly educated, highly qualified
engineers," said Williams. "These people are a needle in a haystack."
Once foreigners have H-1B visas, they face another hurdle -- becoming
permanent legal residents. Applicants are often forced to wait years
because there are only 140,000 employment-based green cards available
annually. A backlog at Citizenship and Immigration Services adds to
the delays.
Swati and Aradhana Srivastava, 34, both Indian software engineers
working in the U.S. on H-1B visas, began the green card process with
their employer in November 2001. Since then, the sisters said they
have not been able to change jobs, positions or salaries.
They have taken film classes and are eager to pursue second careers in
filmmaking but cannot do so until after they get their green cards.
They also are reluctant to buy property or start a business. If they
don't get their green cards by the time they finish film school, the
sisters may return home.
"It's like living in a holding pattern continuously," said Swati
Srivastava, 28, a member of Immigration Voice, a new grass-roots
organization of skilled foreign workers pushing for immigration
reform. The Internet-based group formed late last year and has about
5,000 members scattered around the country.
"We work in [the] U.S. legally in high-skilled jobs, but we still get
penalized for playing by the rules," Immigration Voice co-founder Aman
Kapoor said in an e-mail. "Since no one was working on our issues, we
decided to organize."
Sandy Boyd, vice president of the National Assn. of Manufacturers,
said there is an urgency to fixing the problems facing highly skilled
foreign workers, whether they're seeking temporary or permanent legal
status. The Senate's proposed immigration bill would increase the
number of available employment-based green cards.
If compromise legislation cannot be reached on the broader issues,
Boyd said, Congress should pass a separate, more narrow reform bill.
"This is not an issue that can be put off until comprehensive
immigration reform is passed," Boyd said, "because once we lose these
jobs, it's very difficult for them to come back."
But industry lobbyists arguing against increases in H-1B visas say the
program hurts U.S. citizens by lowering wages and increasing job
competition. They cite a recent report by the Government
Accountability Office that says the program lacks sufficient oversight
from the Department of Labor.
"We feel for the most part there are not shortages of U.S. engineers
and computer scientists that have the skills these companies are
looking for," said Chris McManes, spokesman for the U.S. sector of the
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. "If the cap is
increased, that will further hamper the ability of a U.S. engineer to
find a job."
David Huber, a network engineer in Chicago and U.S. citizen by birth,
said he twice lost out on jobs to foreign workers. He was passed over
for one job and replaced at another, he said. Huber, who testified
before the House in March, said he could not find work for nearly
three years, despite his education and experience. "Too many of us
cannot find jobs because companies are turning to H-1B workers as a
first choice," Huber said in written testimony to the House.
Swadha Sharma, who lives in Arcadia, said she is not trying to replace
U.S. workers. Sharma earned an electronics engineering degree in India
but has long dreamed of becoming a math teacher. So while her husband
worked here on an H-1B visa, she earned her teaching credential at Cal
Poly Pomona.
Sharma, 30, started applying for teaching jobs early this year, but
she said only one of three interested districts was willing to sponsor
her for an H-1B visa. And that offer, from a Los Angeles charter
school, came after the visa cap had been reached. Sharma now plans to
pursue a master's degree but said the U.S. is "missing out on a
catch."
"I am really qualified," she said. "Hopefully, I will be able to teach
soon."
As for Lloyd, his plans to come to the United States are now on
indefinite hold. He started his job in Germany but still laments the
U.S. immigration system for limiting workers like himself from coming
here.
"The H-1B scheme seems a little bit ridiculous," he said. "I would
certainly be an asset to the American economy."