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Promoting Electrotechnology Careers and Public Policy |
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. United States of America (IEEE-USA) is pleased to submit this statement for inclusion in the record of hearings before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims on the subject of Immigration and America's Workforce in the 21st Century. We thank the Chairman and the members of the subcommittee for holding hearings on this important subject. We look forward to working with Members of Congress to help craft appropriate solutions to workforce readiness problems that will enable American business to increase its technological competitiveness and to create and maintain more high wage, high value-added jobs in the United States.
For additional perspectives on high tech workforce issues, including special problems faced by older workers, we call your attention to a recent seven part series in the San Francisco Examiner entitled "Valley's worker shortage: Fact or Fiction?" We also request that it be included in its entirety in the hearings record. The full text of this series is available on the Web at http://www.examiner.com/workers.
IEEE-USA'S INTEREST IN IMMIGRATION AND THE WORKFORCE
The 219,000 IEEE members who live and work in the United States by virtue of their education, experience and employment – are vitally concerned about public policies that affect opportunities to acquire and apply specialized engineering knowledge and skills to the solution of technological problems in an increasingly competitive global economy.
Two key questions need to be answered before Congress votes to raise current H-1B visa caps. First, is there a shortage of information technology workers, including engineers and computer scientists, or isn't there? Second, if there is a shortage, is a substantial increase in the admission of foreign workers under the temporary H-1B visa program an appropriate remedy for the problem?
The answers to both of these questions seem to depend on whom you talk to.
IS THERE A SHORTAGE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY WORKERS?
Tight labor markets are being reported by providers of computer, communications and data processing services in many parts of the country. In spite of continuing reductions in defense spending and layoffs by high technology companies, new jobs for computer engineers and scientists, systems analysts, data base administrators and computer programmers are being created at an unprecedented pace.
Industry trade associations insist that there are critical shortages of information technology workers of all kinds and that these shortages pose a serious threat to U.S. economic competitiveness. The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), for example, reports that there were at least 190,000 vacancies for IT workers at large and mid-sized companies at the end of 1996. That number has since been revised upward to 346,000 vacancies, based on a more recent survey, including small private sector firms.
On the basis of these findings, the ITAA has concluded that the nation faces worker shortages of crisis proportions that threaten not only the information technology industry, but the growth of the entire U.S. economy and its global competitiveness.
The U.S. Department of Commerce has taken a more cautious approach. In 1997, the Office of Technology Policy compared educational degree awards in computer science between 1986 and 1994 with Bureau of Labor Statistics employment projections for these occupations from 1994 to 2005. Commerce concluded that "the United States could face a growing shortage of information technology workers that may have severe consequences for U.S. competitiveness, economic growth and jobs creation."
The Department of Labor is much more skeptical. Labor says that "if IT worker shortages do exist, the most reliable indicator would be the extent to which IT workers' wages are rising, relative to wage increases in comparable occupations. Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data for computer-related occupations between 1988 and 1997 do not constitute evidence of widespread shortages. Rather, such data is indicative of a gradual tightening of labor markets for IT workers in 1996 and 1997 and possible spot shortages in some occupational specialties, particularly for computer programmers," the Department has said.
While demand for electrical and electronics engineers and computer scientists has increased substantially and real wages for certain specialists have begun to turn up since 1995, IEEE-USA agrees with the Department of Labor. We believe that the industry claims of worker shortages of crisis proportions are seriously overstated.
EXISTING SOURCES OF AVAILABLE SUPPLY
The available supply of workers with the kinds of knowledge, skills, aptitudes, interests and motivation needed to function effectively in IT jobs is much broader and deeper than the results of studies of degree trends in certain, narrowly specialized academic disciplines suggest.
Workers who can be utilized to meet current and projected increases in demand come from several sources. They include: 1) new graduates from formal educational programs in engineering, computer science and information sciences; 2) transfers into these fields by persons with degrees in other disciplines; 3) upgrading of non-degreed technicians; 4) re-entry and retraining of displaced or retired personnel with applicable skills and experience; 5) stepped up recruitment and retention of women, minority, handicapped and economically disadvantaged Americans; and 6) the admission of immigrant and non-immigrant engineers and scientists.
New Graduates
Department of Education statistics indicating a 42 percent decline in degree awards in computer science between 1986 and 1994 are often cited as dramatic evidence of a serious "pipeline" problem that threatens to undermine the nation's leadership in cutting-edge technologies. But enrollments in computer science and information management programs have turned up substantially in response to increases in demand since 1994. The National Association for Computing Research reports that enrollments in computer science grew by 5 percent in 1995-96, 40 percent in 1996-97 and 39 percent in 1997-98 – reflecting a dramatic response to changes in domestic labor market conditions.
Transfers from Other Fields
Although enrollments and degree awards in various engineering and computer science disciplines have been flat or declining until very recently, the numbers of workers employed in these fields have been trending steadily upward since 1986. This is due in part to the widespread phenomenon of transfers from other fields.
Data from the National Science Foundation shows that in 1995, 19 percent of the people working as engineers had not been formally educated as engineers, i.e., had not received academic degrees in engineering. For people working as computer scientists, systems analysts and programmers, only 29 percent had degrees in computer science. Another 35 percent had degrees in engineering or natural sciences. Fully 36 percent of the people working in these fields had degrees in the social sciences, business administration and other non-technical disciplines.
Upgrading of Non-Degreed Personnel
Another increasingly important source of the talent needed to fill job openings in computer science and information technology (many of which do not require a four year college degree) are formal and informal instructional programs offered by community colleges and other educational organizations. Many offer short term, intensive training that degreed and non-degreed workers need to learn new technological applications and develop the communications, interpersonal and team-building skills required to function effectively in a knowledge-based economy.
Re-employment of Retired, Underemployed and Unemployed Workers
Professional, technical and administrative personnel who are currently unemployed or underemployed (working full or part time in "low tech" jobs) and older workers who have recently retired (voluntarily or involuntarily) or been displaced represent another important source of supply for qualified workers.
At the same time that new jobs are being created, downsizing continues in the high tech and other sectors of the nation's economy. Recent issues of the Wall Street Journal describe recent and pending layoffs by Seagate Technology, Silicon Graphics, Netscape, Apple Computer, National Semiconductor, Sybase and Sun Microsystems in the Silicon Valley and by Xerox on the East Coast.
A Chicago-based outplacement firm, Challenger, Gray and Christmas, reports that 473,000 Americans lost their jobs in 1997, up nearly 10 percent from 434,000 in 1996. Assuming that a minimum of 15 percent of these downsized or early retired workers could be placed in or retrained for IT jobs, many of the reported vacancies at high tech companies could quickly and easily be filled.
Women, Minority, Handicapped and Economically Disadvantaged Workers
Women, minorities, handicapped and economically disadvantaged Americans have long been much less likely than white men to pursue careers in most scientific and engineering fields. Continuing leadership by policy makers at all levels as well as concerted efforts by business, educators, labor unions, professional societies and trade associations are needed to attract and make more effective use of talented individuals from these traditionally underrepresented groups.
Immigrant and Non-Immigrant Workers
Foreign nationals who come to study or work in the United States represent another important source of the talent needed to ensure the growth and profitability of public and private providers of high tech products and services. Engineering degree awards to foreign nationals have also been trending upward in recent years, particularly at the masters and doctoral degree levels.
Statistics compiled for IEEE-USA by David North indicate that the number of foreign engineers and computer scientists granted immigrant (legal permanent admission) status has increased gradually-- from a total of 9,431 in 1986 to a high of 18,464 in 1993. But the numbers of foreign engineers admitted to work temporarily in the United States on temporary (non-immigrant) visas, on the other hand, has been growing much more rapidly -- from 21,800 in 1986 to 79,400 ten years later.
Immigrant engineers and computer scientists have always made critically important contributions to America's economic and technological competitiveness. And the entry of skilled professionals on temporary visas helps many employers to meet legitimate, short-term needs for skills not readily available in the United States.
IEEE-USA'S PERSPECTIVES ON SKILLS-BASED ADMISSIONS
The quality of our national engineering enterprise as well as job opportunities for engineers and computer scientists in the United States are directly affected by the permanent admission of foreign nationals under at least three of five current work- related visa programs. These programs include: EB-1 (for individuals with extraordinary ability, outstanding professors and researchers and certain multi-national executives); EB-2 (for professionals with advanced degrees or exceptional ability) and EB-3 (for degreed professionals and skilled workers with at least two years of training or experience).
Engineering labor markets in the United States are also affected by the admission of foreign-born professionals under several educational and skills-based temporary visa programs. These temporary programs include: the B-1 (temporary visitor for business); F-1 (student); H-1B (specialty occupation); H-2B (temporary worker); H-3 (Trainee); J-1 (exchange visitor); L-1 (intra-company transfer); O-1 (extra- (ordinary ability); TC (Canadian American Free Trade Agreement) and TN (North American Free Trade Agreement) programs.
The temporary H-1B visa program, which is the primary focus of the current Congressional debate, was subject to serious abuses in the early 1990's and has been characterized as a sham by the Department of Labor's Inspector General.
The H-1B program, as originally authorized by Congress in 1990, was intended to help employers meet urgent, short-term needs for specialized skills not readily available in the United States. Unfortunately, it has been widely used by many employers as a probationary, try-out employment program for foreign students, workers and visitors who are already here to determine if they should be sponsored for permanent resident status. And the attestation requirements that were intended to help safeguard job opportunities, wages and working conditions for U.S. and foreign workers have proven to be weak and ineffective.
IEEE-USA favors skills-based admissions programs that permit employers to hire foreign professionals based on a verifiable lack of appropriately skilled or easily trainable American workers -- not because it is easier or less expensive to hire foreign nationals who will work for substandard wages to enter or remain in the United States.
Weak investigative and enforcement provisions continue increase the potential for abuses under the H-1B program. Although sponsoring employers are supposed to post notices indicating how many foreign workers they plan to hire and how much they will be paid, many never do.
Others submit applications for scores of workers and include an identical wage or salary range for the entire group. Because it cannot initiate investigations without complaints, the Labor Department hands are effectively tied when it comes to taking prompt and decisive action against abusers. Displaced Americans are likely to be long gone before foreign replacements show up for work. And H-1B visa holders – who are virtually indentured to sponsoring employers for periods of up to six years – can hardly be expected to complain if employers fail to live up to the labor condition attestations included on requests for authorization to hire foreign workers.
NEEDED REFORMS IN THE H-1B PROGRAM
With respect to skills-based admissions, we agree with the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform's observation that the nation's interest in helping American businesses compete in the global economy must be balanced by an equally compelling need to develop and make better use of our own human resources.
Administrative and procedural reforms in the H-1B temporary admissions program are absolutely essential in order to balance the interests of U.S. employers, including businesses and educational institutions, and IT workers, including engineers and computer scientists. Employers' legitimate needs for access to specialized skills not readily available in the United States should not be met at the expense of workers' needs for safeguards against unfair competition for jobs in domestic labor markets. Absent effective worker safeguards, responsible employers are also vulnerable to unfair competition from less scrupulous, corner-cutting rivals, many of whom have come to rely almost exclusively on H-1B workers.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Because some companies have immediate needs for specific skills that are not readily available in the United States, modest adjustments in H-1B admissions ceilings may be warranted. But not without more effective safeguards for job opportunities, wages and working conditions for citizens, legal permanent residents and foreign nationals who have been legally admitted to work temporarily in the United States.
In order to strengthen worker safeguards, IEEE-USA makes the following recommendations:
Employers who wish to hire professionals, including engineers and computer scientists, under the temporary H-1B admissions program should be required to apply for authorization to do so with the U.S. Department of Labor. On their applications, petitioning employers should have to attest:
That they have tried and failed, using industry-wide recruitment procedures, to fill existing vacancies with appropriately qualified American workers;
that they will pay foreign workers prevailing labor market wages; and
that they have not laid off and will not lay off or displace comparably qualified American workers for 90 days before and 90 days after filing for an authorization to hire foreign workers.
To deter abuses involving job contractors, IEEE-USA recommends that their clients also be required to subscribe to the recruitment and no lay-off attestations.
Petitioning employers should be expected to post copies of their applications, including their recruitment, prevailing wage and no-layoff attestations, at locations where foreign workers will be employed and pay an appropriate application fee to cover the cost of program administration and enforcement.
Responsibility for administration and enforcement of the H-1B program should be centralized in the U.S. Department of Labor – not scattered among two departments and two other federal agencies (the Departments of Justice and State) as it is under current law.
The Department should be explicitly authorized to conduct routine audits and investigations to verify that employers comply with their attestations.
The agency should also be provided with the human and technological resources needed to administer the program efficiently and be authorized to impose heavy fines on employers for non-compliance and to ban repeat offenders from participation in the H-1B program.
And finally, the duration of stays under H-1B visas should be reduced from six to three years.
CONCLUSIONS
While the demand for information technology workers, including engineers and computer scientists, has been increasing in recent years -- and can reasonably be expected to continue to increase in the future -- IEEE-USA believes that the domestic supply of workers needed to meet this demand is much broader and deeper than is generally assumed. And while some adjustments in H-1B admissions may be warranted, we have serious reservations about the wisdom of legislation that places too much emphasis on temporary guest worker programs to meet employer's needs for better-educated and more highly skilled workers.
IEEE-USA believes that temporary admissions programs should be viewed as a supplement to, not as a substitute for, concerted public and private efforts to improve America's economic and technological competitiveness through better preparation and more effective utilization of American engineers, computer scientists and other information technology workers.
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers - United States of America
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Office: (202) 785-0017 * Fax: (202) 785-0835 * E-mail: ieeeusa@ieee.org * Web: http://www.ieeeusa.org
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Last Update: May 12, 1998
Staff Info Contact: Vin O'Neill, v.oneill@ieee.org
Copyright © 1998, The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Permission to copy IEEE-USA policy communications is granted for non-commercial uses with appropriate attribution, unless otherwise indicated.