11 Articles Worth Reading
11 Articles Worth Reading
Date: Tuesday, April 18, 2006 2:39 AM
JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER
April 18, 2006 No. 1463
<<< COMMENTS FROM ROB >>>
Article #1 is should win some kind of reward for being so shameless and
funny at the same time. Besides the comments about doubling H-1B, this one
made me roll over on my side:
Among the 170 employees at his hotel, 70% are from Latin America,
he says, making as little as $7.50 per hour plus tips. About 10%
of his positions are vacant. "There are not American citizens
here to fill the jobs,"
Articles #2, #3: What a way to start a day wrong - having breakfeast with
Harris Miller. That would be a real puker! Looks like he caught some heat
in his bid to become a Senator, but being the slickster he is he talked his
way out of most of it.
Article #5: At first glance you might wonder why I have an article on
scorpions. It's a classic example of how our medical industry is being sent
to other countries, in this case Mexico. The U.S. now has no capability of
making anti-venom, so until a new Mexican drug gets approved people that
react badly to the stings will just have to suffer, or die. They are just
more collateral damage in the war for free trade.
Article #7: The author of this article interviewed me because she said she
needed some opposing opinions on work based green card issue. This is very
important since the Senate is trying to raise the number of green cards.
She never used anything I said, and the only balance is a short quote from
NumbersUSA. See if you think this is balanced journalism.
Article #8: We have all heard the argument employers make that if they
don't get more H-1B visas they will offshore the jobs. H-1B data shows
otherwise. John Miano has analyzed data that shows that two-thirds of the
high-tech workers are being requested for offshoring companies. In other
words, more H-1Bs mean more offshoring!
Article #9: Read this one about a protest by Indian students against
allowing lower caste people into the Indian Institute of Technology. Many
Indians claim IIT is better than MIT - a "60 Minutes" show last year
actually agreed! "60 Minutes" never mentioned their culture of
discrimination.
Article #11: A new "top job" survey came out. If you are in the mood for
reading fiction, this one will do it!
<<< END COMMENTS >>>
Article 1:
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/mag/article.pl?article_id=25631&postDate=2006-04-15
Tech execs want new immigration rules, too
Martin Singer has a chronic problem: jobs he says he can't fill at PCTel
Inc. because of restrictions on bringing in foreign-born high-tech workers.
The Chicago-based maker of equipment and software for wireless
communications could easily double the number of visa-holding employees if
it could get them, he says.
Article 2:
http://www.raisingkaine.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=2134
Breakfast With Harris Miller
When told that he seemed to be part of the problem through his efforts at
outsourcing jobs as well as bringing foreign info workers to this country
through H1-B and L-1 visas, he brushed aside any negatives.
Article 3:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/13/AR2006041301883.html
Labor Labels Senate Hopeful 'Anti-Worker'
National labor union leaders are criticizing Virginia U.S. Senate candidate
Harris Miller for opposing worker rights as a lobbyist for the high-tech
industry. In a letter to the Virginia AFL-CIO, the national union group
representing white-collar workers called Miller "truly one of the bad guys"
for his support for outsourcing jobs and importing foreign guest workers.
Article 4:
http://www.herald-sun.com/durham/4-724168.html
RTI hopes high-tech visas will increase
Congress is considering expanding a federal visa program that allows highly
skilled workers in high-tech jobs to work in America for up to six years.
In Research Triangle Park, companies like RTI International, a nonprofit
corporation specializing in technology development, have had to recruit
foreign workers to find the specific skills needed for their companies.
They say recruiting outside of America is necessary to keep up with global
competition.
Article 5:
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0406scorpion0406.html
2 children rushed to hospital after scorpion stings
Two Phoenix children were being treated Wednesday for life-threatening
scorpion stings.
Development of another antivenin, Bakerman said, is under way in Mexico.
Article 6:
http://english.yna.co.kr/Engnews/20060414/560000000020060414105816E7.html
U.S. to import 10,000 S. Koreans for nurses over five years
As many as 10,000 South Koreans will likely be hired as nurses at U.S.
hospitals over the next five years, a South Korean state firm said Friday.
The move comes as the U.S. government encourages its hospitals to import
foreign nurses to fill a shortage of about 300,000 nurses. In New York
alone, about 30,000 nurses are believed to be needed right now. Under the
contract, the Korean nurses will go through a 10-day job training upon
arrival in the U.S. before being assigned to 36 hospitals in New York as
intern nurses for per-hour salary of US$25, according
Article 7:
http://www.newsobserver.com/104/story/427793.html
Many skilled foreigners leaving U.S.
Exodus rooted in backlog for permanent status
Some experts say the wait for a 'green card,' illustrated above, is leading
to a brain drain.
Article 8:
http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/career/article.php/3599141
Are H-1B Visas a Cog in the Offshoring Machine?
A consultant who has analyzed reams of government data says the H-1B visa
program is not only being used to undercut the salaries of American
computer programmers, it's also part of a larger effort to offshore U.S.
high-tech jobs to other countries.
Article 9:
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=177903
IIT-K students march to protest quota
Students of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, stepped out of
their classrooms on Wednesday for a different cause. Marching around in the
campus and sporting black arm bands, they silently voiced their protest
against the proposal to extend reservation for backward castes in all IITs
and IIMs of the country by the Human Resource Ministry.
Article 10:
http://www.americaneconomicalert.org/View_art.asp?Prod_ID=2399
How the Cheap Labor Lobby Is Duping the Left Into Doing Its Work For Free
As anyone who believes in the law of supply and demand knows, falling wages
in any part of the economy as a whole are proof positive that a labor
shortage claim for that sector is pure fiction. If so many employers were
chasing so few workers, theyd be bidding their wages way up.
Article 11:
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bestjobs/top50/index.html
must click link to read
1. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/mag/article.pl?article_id=25631&postDate=2006-04-15
Tech execs want new immigration rules, too
By Steven R. Strahler
April 17, 2006
Martin Singer has a chronic problem: jobs he says he can't fill at PCTel
Inc. because of restrictions on bringing in foreign-born high-tech workers.
The Chicago-based maker of equipment and software for wireless
communications could easily double the number of visa-holding employees if
it could get them, he says.
"I have another option: It's called outsourcing," says the chairman and
CEO, noting that he's been forced to open software design centers in India
and Europe to compensate for labor shortages here.
Overshadowed in the raging congressional debate and street demonstrations
over immigration policy is a tussle over an annual limit of 65,000 college
graduates in "specialty occupations" who can enter the United States for up
to six years.
But the tech community is abuzz over the scarcity of these H-1B visas.
"It's definitely on people's minds, no doubt," says Eric Wasowicz, co-CEO
of Schaumburg-based information technology consultancy Greenbrier & Russel
Inc.
Tech entrepreneurs like PCTel's Mr. Singer, 54, have been lobbying Congress
to raise the cap several-fold. A bill that would boost it to 115,000 has
been caught up in the partisan acrimony stalling more-prominent legislation
affecting low-wage illegal immigrants.
"It's just incredibly stupid that a country that used to encourage
technically talented people . . . is now shunning those resources," says
Mr. Singer. More than one in five U.S. scientists and engineers are
foreign-born, according to the 2000 U.S. Census.
Unable to import workers, execs like Mr. Singer export jobs. PCTel's
offshore software design centers now employ 10 people. It has 400 workers
in the U.S.
Debate and demonstrations over immigration policy reform have overshadowed
the scarcity of H-1B visas for college grads in "specialty occupations."
AP/Wide World photo
After massive demonstrations around the country this spring, legislators
said they were prepared to abandon parts of a House bill that stresses
border security, makes illegal immigration a felony and criminalizes aid
for known illegal immigrants. The Senate earlier this month failed to craft
its own compromise around a promise of eventual citizenship to most of the
nation's 11 million illegals.
HIGH PRIORITY
Despite the collapse of the Senate bill, local executives whose businesses
rely heavily on foreign-born labor are still holding out hope and lobbying
for immigration reform. Theodore Selogie, general manager of the Chicago
Marriott Oak Brook and chairman of the Illinois Hotel and Lodging Assn.,
describes immigration reform "as probably the largest priority for us."
Among the 170 employees at his hotel, 70% are from Latin America, he says,
making as little as $7.50 per hour plus tips. About 10% of his positions
are vacant. "There are not American citizens here to fill the jobs," he
says.
While many say privately that they're eager for change, other hoteliers and
executives in immigrant-dependent industries recoil from discussing the
topic publicly.
For instance, Palmer House Hilton General Manager Peter Lynn, who was part
of a delegation of local hoteliers who trooped to Washington, D.C., last
month to lobby members of the Illinois congressional delegation, deflected
questions to an aide, who did not return the call.
CRITICS: SUB FOR LOW PAY
Critics of the visa worker program say employers use it to replace U.S.
workers with cheaper help. But Mr. Singer says he doesn't pay foreign
workers less.
Employers report difficulty filling positions at both ends of the spectrum
relatively low-skill jobs like those at Heriberto Martinez's
140-employee carpet and granite installation business in Naperville, and
highly skilled tech consulting jobs at Revere Group Ltd. in Chicago. Each
has been watching the immigration debate with interest.
Further immigration restrictions "would be devastating" to Mr. Martinez's
business, where half of the employees are, like himself, immigrants. "We
all pay bills," says Mr. Martinez, 42. "If we were to disappear out of this
country, who is going to pay those bills?"
Susan Fuller, human resources vice-president at Revere Group, likens the
crunch to the hiring scramble of the go-go 1990s, when tech companies were
forced to pay search firms rich fees to find qualified job candidates.
Until recently, Revere balked at shelling out $5,000 to sponsor a visa
holder or $10,000 for a green card, particularly after the dot-com crash of
2000 devastated the local tech economy. Now, the company is left with
little choice.
"Only in the last year, because of the market and the war on talent, are we
re-evaluating the H-1B visas and green cards," Ms. Fuller says.
2. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.raisingkaine.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=2134
Breakfast With Harris Miller
by: Teddy
April 15, 2006 at 18:06:58 America/New_York
(Thanks to Teddy for this article... - promoted by Lowell)
About a dozen Democrats from the City of Fairfax, plus assorted children,
met with Harris Miller Saturday morning at The Old Country Buffet in the
City of Fairfax. While ingesting our monthly quota of cholesterol we had a
lively conversation with the Senatorial candidate, who appeared to be in
good form, accompanied by his (non-eating) aide, Andrew.
Teddy :: Breakfast With Harris Miller
After mentioning the newly announced closing of the Ford plant in Norfolk,
which brought up globalization, the lead-off question pointedly introduced
Mr. Millers lobbying background, and established that, contrary to
frequent media sound bites, he was not a successful industrial dot.com
technocrat but rather someone who represented such CEOs by lobbying
Congress and in helping, in Mr. Millers view, to develop Americas
contribution to the Information Age.
When told that he seemed to be part of the problem through his efforts at
outsourcing jobs as well as bringing foreign info workers to this country
through H1-B and L-1 visas, he brushed aside any negatives. His response
was that there were at least a million more info tech workers in America
today than three years ago, which in his view showed job increases, not job
loss, and he ignored a question as to how many of these workers were
American or foreign hires while he launched into a rather persuasive
discussion of American education.
The problem, in his view, is that American education is based on a 19th
century agricultural society. American students are choosing not to study
science and engineering, whereas China, three times our size, graduates six
times as many engineers annually as America, and the same goes for India.
So naturally American bosses have to fill their need for technical
engineers with foreigners. He basically ignored a comment that perhaps one
reason students no longer study engineering is that American industry
consistently turns down American graduates in favor of the cheaper foreign
experts, so Americans are going into other fields. He proposed developing
incentives and subsidies to encourage students to study science and
engineering, and to re-train laid-off workers.
This segued into how to create jobs for Virginia, especially in desperate
areas like Southside and Southwest Virginia, where the economy is still in
a slump. A massive transportation development program would not only
provide jobs for many years, but it would have a multiplier effect
throughout the Virginia economy, and could be tied to national security as
a rationale for the expense, in Millers view. Why, he asked, did not
Virginia install broadband throughout the state, as Alberta has done in
Canada, which would enable information workers to work from Danville as
easily as if in more expensive Northern Virginia? Certainly Danville jobs
would not have to pay as much as in Northern Virginia.
A Gulf War veteran asked several pointed questions about both the Iraq war
and the health problems of returning vets. Once Mr. Miller ran through his
usual statements about establishing a "metric" for withdrawal of our
troops, based on how prepared Iraqis were to take over security, he
floundered a bit, repeating that we could be out of Iraq safely in two
years. In his view there is a chance Bush will announce victory and go
home in September in time for the November elections; or, some one said,
begin bombing Iran. There was a quick discussion of nuclear war, but the
Gulf War vet persisted in pulling Miller back to the problems of veterans
now beginning to return in large numbers, needing health care. The
concentrated rage of these veterans is stunning. They feel betrayed by
this countrys leadership, which, they have now discovered, actively lied
to them, and then failed to provide them with adequate materiel and
support. Some, when unable to find jobs and denied immediate health care,
have become homeless or committed suicide, a fact carefully concealed by
this Administration. Mr. Miller offered one or two feel-good efforts at
how he takes some veterans to dinner, and agreed to contact some
veterans organizations. He admitted he had never been in the military.
Here we got into some serious name-dropping as Mr. Miller discussed
Democratic chances in the upcoming election. He feels that, with "Jim"
(meaning Webb) having entered the race, and events going as they are, now
it looked as though national Democratic leadership with whom Miller has
been in close contact, might raise the Virginia Senatorial race to one of
its top eight races and provide national support.
Despite the give and take, and the breadth of the discussion, my personal
estimate is that Harris Miller convinced, at best, perhaps two or three
that they should support him rather than James Webb. He failed to give
answers (satisfactory or otherwise) to concerns about his anti-worker,
pro-business lobbying past, and blew past questions asking for details on
many of his answers.
This left me, at least, with the impression that he is running a standard,
garden variety campaign based on Democratic stereotypes and slogans,
endorsements and platitudes. He is able to trot out a few showcase ideas
(like transportation construction and education) and he sternly conceals
his dismal record in dismantling employment for hundreds of thousands of
American middle class workers (what one researcher termed "deleting
American workers") Actually, I almost think he would be better as a
candidate for Governor than for Senator, but, when this was hinted at, his
supporters became angry. While it was a reasonably enjoyable morning, the
truth is, he seemed a practiced schmoozer, not a deep thinker as my
grandmother used to say, "a mile wide and an inch deep."
3. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/13/AR2006041301883.html
Labor Labels Senate Hopeful 'Anti-Worker'
By Michael D. Shear
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 14, 2006; B05
RICHMOND, April 13 -- National labor union leaders are criticizing Virginia
U.S. Senate candidate Harris Miller for opposing worker rights as a
lobbyist for the high-tech industry.
In a letter to the Virginia AFL-CIO, the national union group representing
white-collar workers called Miller "truly one of the bad guys" for his
support for outsourcing jobs and importing foreign guest workers.
The letter was the latest example of Virginia's two Democratic Senate
hopefuls having problems with their party's base voters. This month,
several prominent black politicians criticized Miller's opponent, former
Navy secretary James Webb, for statements he made about affirmative action.
"I cannot accept Jim Webb's views and statements on affirmative action,"
state Sen. Henry L. Marsh III (D-Richmond) said April 3. "I think his
candidacy will have rough going gaining support among the rank and file."
Kristian Denny-Todd, Webb's communications director, said Marsh was
mischaracterizing Webb's comments, in which he said that affirmative action
should be based on class, not race.
"Jim Webb always has and always will support affirmative action for African
Americans," Denny-Todd said.
The letter from the Washington-based AFL-CIO's Department for Professional
Employees, which represents 4 million white-collar workers, was sent in
February and first made public Thursday on the Raising Kaine Web blog,
which is run by Webb supporters.
In the letter, Executive Director Michael W. Gildea writes of the
candidate, a former president of the Arlington-based Information Technology
Association of America: "Miller's anti-labor, anti-worker activities find
him unfit for any kind of labor support."
Gildea was out of town and did not return calls. But the president of the
professional employees' union, Paul Almeida, said his organization has a
"long track record" with Miller that he said motivated the unusually blunt
letter and an accompanying two-page fact sheet.
"When we saw his name pop up, we didn't know if people in the labor
movement knew him the way we did," Almeida said. "He should be [asked] to
defend why the outsourcing of jobs and the bringing in of guest workers is
a good idea."
Doris Crouse-Mays, secretary-treasurer of the Virginia AFL-CIO, said her
organization is not endorsing anyone in the June 13 primary. But she said
the comments from the national group will be considered when determining
endorsements in the general election.
"Assuming that Harris Miller was to win the nomination, it would be
addressed at our executive council," she said.
Miller's communications director, Taylor West, downplayed the importance of
the letter and said Miller will be courting union voters by stressing the
need for better education and training so that Virginians can compete.
"Harris is not someone who wants to see jobs leaving this country," West
said. "We have to acknowledge the realities of a global economy and be sure
we're providing the resources and the tools for our workers."
4. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.herald-sun.com/durham/4-724168.html
RTI hopes high-tech visas will increase
By Gerry Smith, Herald-Sun Washington bureau
April 13, 2006 9:04 pm
WASHINGTON -- As protests across the country have placed illegal
immigration on center stage, a quieter debate over foreign workers has
begun in Washington.
Congress is considering expanding a federal visa program that allows highly
skilled workers in high-tech jobs to work in America for up to six years.
Companies in high-tech industries often use the visa program, known as
H-1B, to hire foreign workers. But current laws only allow 65,000 H-1Bs to
be issued each year, which is not enough to meet demand, companies say.
The Senate Judiciary Committee recently approved a bill that would raise
the H-1B cap to 115,000. President Bush also endorses the idea of
increasing the number of H-1B visas.
In Research Triangle Park, companies like RTI International, a nonprofit
corporation specializing in technology development, have had to recruit
foreign workers to find the specific skills needed for their companies.
They say recruiting outside of America is necessary to keep up with global
competition.
"We're looking for the leaders in science, engineering and advanced
technology, and to do so we have to recruit internationally," said Patrick
Gibbons, a spokesman at RTI, who said the company has several employees
from India with advanced degrees.
Critics of the H-1B program say foreign workers take away jobs and lower
wages of equally qualified American high-tech workers. American computer
programmers at software companies like IBM and Nortel Networks, both based
in RTP, earn an average of $65,000 a year, compared with $52,000 for
foreign programmers working with H-1B visas, according to analysis by the
Occupational Employment Statistics program.
Steve Allen, a professor in the College of Management at N.C. State
University, said the debate over the high-skilled foreign labor market
should not get caught up with the immigration debate that has led to
protests across the country in recent weeks.
"They're two completely different animals," he said.
Allen said he often sees students at N.C. State who are highly qualified in
science and electrical engineering, but can't get jobs because they're not
U.S. citizens. Under the measure approved by the Senate Judiciary
Committee, such students could qualify for permanent resident status.
Ted Conner, vice president of economic development at the Greater Durham
Chamber of Commerce, said the process of acquiring an H-1B visa for an
employee can be costly and slow. Conner said Cormetech, an RTP company
specializing in glass and ceramic processing, once had to call on officials
in Washington to speed up the visa process to hire an expert from Europe.
Although Cormetech was unavailable for comment, Conner said the employee
was hired to do "a job only a few people in the world are qualified to do."
5. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0406scorpion0406.html
2 children rushed to hospital after scorpion stings
Linda Helser
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 6, 2006 12:00 AM
Two Phoenix children were being treated Wednesday for life-threatening
scorpion stings.
One child was scheduled to be released from the intensive care unit at
Phoenix Children's Hospital later in the day while the other is still on a
ventilator and not expected to go home until Friday.
That child, 2-year-old Sonja Rawlings, was snuggled up in bed on Tuesday
night with her parents when she suddenly began to cry.
"She wouldn't stop and was grabbing at her leg," said her dad, Jason, 30.
"We figured she's been bitten by something, so we started looking through
the sheets."
That's when Rawlings, who lives in an apartment complex near 19th Avenue
and Thunderbird Road, happened to look up.
A scorpion was clinging to the ceiling directly over the bed.
Near 35th Avenue and Buckeye Road, 7-year-old Sammy Puente Jr. was putting
his sneakers out on the porch when he stepped on something.
"He came running in the house screaming that a scorpion had bit him," said
his dad, Sammy Sr., 32. "His grandmother found the scorpion and killed it."
Although scorpions used to be active primarily from April to October, they
tend to be on the move year-round in the Valley, said Ann-Marie Krueger,
education and community-relations coordinator for the Banner Poison Control
Center.
"But right now, at spring, they're on the upswing," she said.
Because both families were fortunate enough to see what had stung their
children, they sought attention. Swelling or inflammation at the site of
the sting is generally not apparent.
"Young children are more likely to have a serious reaction to a scorpion
sting," said Paul Bakerman, the pediatric critical-care doctor who treated
Sammy.
Symptoms doctors look for include uncontrollable arm and leg movements,
erratic eye movements and secretion from the mouth, such as salivation.
Both Sammy and Sonja suffered from all three symptoms.
"What we have to do is sedate them and put them on a ventilator because
they need help breathing," Bakerman said.
"During the 1940s and 1950s, the Number 1 cause of death in Arizona
resulting from a bite was from a scorpion," said Steven Curry, a doctor
with the Arizona Department of Medical Toxicology at Banner Good Samaritan
Medical Center.
"And almost all of those were children because with scorpions and venom,
it's all a matter of body size," he said. "And it doesn't matter where the
sting is (on the body). The result is the same."
Now, he added, with supportive care from intensive-care units, emergency
rooms and paramedics, the numbers have dwindled to fewer than one death
every few years. "Many more would have died without that supportive care,"
he said.
Until several years ago, Bakerman said, sting victims were treated with
antivenin and would recover within approximately 60 minutes. "But the guy
at Arizona State University who provided that for us retired, and we didn't
get any more, so we can only do supportive care."
Development of another antivenin, Bakerman said, is under way in Mexico.
Curry said the Banner Poison Control Center gets 20 to 30 calls a day on
scorpion stings. He said most will cause no problem. But children younger
than 10 are at most risk for a dangerous reaction.
Although there are some 56 different types of scorpions, it is the bark
scorpion that can be so deadly.
"They are about 2= inches long when full grown, and what distinguishes
them is they can climb really well and flatten themselves out to the width
of a credit card," Krueger said.
They are nocturnal, and they love to dine on crickets but can live for a
year without food or water and are very difficult to kill with pesticides.
"Killing the crickets won't get rid of them, and if an exterminator tells
you they can get rid of the scorpions, get it in writing," she said.
Caulking cracks may be the most effective means to keep them out, and
spraying them directly with liquid insecticide when spotted.
"Or go get a really mean cat because cats don't tend to react to their
venom," Krueger said. "And chickens and ducks like to eat them."
But Sammy knows exactly how he'll deal with the next scorpion that crosses
his path.
"I'll squish it," said the first-grader at Jack L. Kuban Elementary School.
6. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://english.yna.co.kr/Engnews/20060414/560000000020060414105816E7.html
U.S. to import 10,000 S. Koreans for nurses over five years
SEOUL, April 14 (Yonhap) -- As many as 10,000 South Koreans will likely be
hired as nurses at U.S. hospitals over the next five years, a South Korean
state firm said Friday.
The Resources Development Service of Korea said it plans to sign a contract
with San Francisco-based worker dispatch company HRS Global and New
York-based St. John's Riverside Hospital for employment of the South Korean
nurses on Wednesday.
The move comes as the U.S. government encourages its hospitals to import
foreign nurses to fill a shortage of about 300,000 nurses. In New York
alone, about 30,000 nurses are believed to be needed right now.
Under the contract, the Korean nurses will go through a 10-day job training
upon arrival in the U.S. before being assigned to 36 hospitals in New York
as intern nurses for per-hour salary of US$25, according to the South
Korean firm.
After a one-year English language education by HRS Global, the Koreans will
be promoted to full-fledged nurses if they pass the English proficiency
test IELST, the service said. They will later be able to apply for a
permanent U.S. residence as nurses, it said.
There are currently about 6,000 South Korean nurses working in the U.S. In
the last four years, only 320 South Koreans were employed as nurses in the
U.S., according to data from HRS Global.
It would be the largest number of South Korean nurses to be sent abroad
since the 1960s and 1970s, during which about 8,400 got jobs in West
Germany.
The South Korean state firm plans to provide three months of English
language training to those to be sent to the U.S.
7. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.newsobserver.com/104/story/427793.html
Many skilled foreigners leaving U.S.
Exodus rooted in backlog for permanent status
Some experts say the wait for a 'green card,' illustrated above, is leading
to a brain drain.
Karin Rives, Staff Writer
When the Senate immigration bill fell apart last week, it did more than
stymie efforts to deal with illegal immigration.
It derailed efforts to deal with an equally vexing business concern: a
backlog in applications for so-called green cards, the coveted cards that
are actually pink or white and that offer proof of lawful permanent
residency.
Many people now wait six years or longer for the card. There are 526,000
applications pending, according to Immigration Voice, an advocacy group
that tracks government data.
Lately, this has prompted an exodus of foreign workers who tired of
waiting, to return home or go further afield. With the economies in Asia
and elsewhere on the rise, they can easily find work in the native
countries or in third nations that are more generous with their visas.
"You have China, Russia, India -- a lot of countries where you can go and
make a lot of money. That's the biggest thing that has changed," said
Murali Bashyam, a Raleigh immigration lawyer who helps companies sponsor
immigrants. "Before, people were willing to wait it out. Now they can do
just as well going back home, and they do."
Mike Plueddeman said he lost three employees (one a senior programmer with
a doctorate) at Durham-based DynPro in the past two years because they
tired of waiting for their green cards.
All three found good jobs in their home countries within a few weeks of
leaving Durham, said Plueddeman, the software consultancy's human resource
director.
"We are talking about very well-educated and highly skilled people who have
been in the labor force a long time," he said. "You hate losing them."
This budding brain drain comes as the first American baby boomers retire
and projections show a huge need for such professionals in the years ahead.
U.S. universities graduate about 70,000 information technology students
annually. Many people say that number won't meet the need for a projected
600,000 additional openings for information systems professionals between
2002 and 2012, and the openings made by retirements.
"We just don't have the pipeline right now," said Joe Freddoso, director of
Cisco Systems' Research Triangle Park operations. "We are concerned there's
going to be a shortage, and we're already seeing that in some areas."
Cisco has advertised an opening for a data-security specialist in Atlanta
for several months, unable to find the right candidate. Freddoso believes
the problem will spread unless the government allows more foreign workers
to enter the country, and expedites their residency process.
However, not everybody believes in the labor shortage that corporations
fret about.
Critics say that proposals to allow more skilled workers into the country
would only depress wages and displace American-born workers who have yet to
fully recover from the dot-com bust.
"We should only issue work-related visas if we really need them," said
Caroline Espinosa, a spokeswoman with NumbersUSA, a Washington, D.C., group
pushing for immigration reduction. "There are 2.5 million native born
American workers in the math and computer field who are currently out of
work. It begs the question whether we truly need foreign workers."
She added that the immigration backlog would be aggravated by raising the
cap for temporary and permanent visas, which would make it harder for those
who deserve to immigrate to do so.
Waiting since 2003
Sarath Chandrand, 44, a software consultant from India, moved with his wife
and two young daughters from Raleigh to Toronto in December because he
couldn't live with more uncertainty. He applied for his green card in early
2003 and expects it will take at least two more years to get it.
His former employer continues to sponsor his application for permanent
residency, hoping that he will eventually return. But Chandrand doesn't
know what the future will hold.
"I miss Raleigh, the weather, the people," he said in a phone interview.
"But it's a very difficult decision to make, once you've settled in a
country, to move out. You go through a lot of mental strain. Making another
move will be difficult."
Canada won him over because its residency process takes only a year and a
half and doesn't require sponsorship from an employer.
The competition from Canada also worries Plueddeman, who said several of
his employees are also applying for residency in both countries. "They'll
go with whoever comes first," he said.
And it's not just India and Canada that beckon. New Zealand and Australia
are among nations that actively market themselves to professionals in the
United States, with perks such as an easy process to get work visas.
New Zealand, with a population of 4 million, has received more than 1,900
applications from skilled migrants and their families in the past two
years, said Don Badman, the Los Angeles marketing director for that
country's immigration agency. Of those, about 17 percent were non-Americans
working in the United States.
Badman's team has hired a public relations agency to get the word out. They
have also run ads in West Coast newspapers and attended trade shows, mainly
to attract professionals in health care and information technology.
Dana Hutchison, an operating room nurse from Cedar Mountain south of
Asheville, could have joined a hospital in the United States that offers
fat sign-on bonuses. Instead, she's in the small town of Tauranga, east of
Auckland, working alongside New Zealand nurses and doctors.
"It would be hard for me to work in the U.S. again," she said. Where she is
now, "the working conditions are so fabulous. Everybody is friendly and
much less stressed. It's like the U.S. was in the 1960s."
Limit of 140,000
Getting a green card was never a quick process. The official limit for
employment-based green cards is 140,000 annually.
And there is a bottleneck of technology professionals from India and China.
They hold many, if not most, of all temporary work visas, and many try to
convert their work visa to permanent residency, and eventually full
citizenship. But under current rules, no single nationality can be allotted
more than 7 percent of the green cards.
In his February economic report, President Bush outlined proposals to
overhaul the system for employment-based green cards:
* Open more slots by exempting spouses and children from the annual limit
of 140,000 green cards. Such dependents now make up about half of all green
card recipients, because workers sponsored by employers can include their
family in the application.
* Replace the current cap with a "flexible market-based cap" that responds
to the need that employers have for foreign workers.
* Raise the 7 percent limit for nations such as India that have many highly
skilled workers.
After steady lobbying from technology companies, Congress is also paying
more attention to the issue. The Senate immigration bill had proposed
raising the annual cap for green cards to 290,000.
Kumar Gupta, a 33-year-old software engineer, has been watching the
legislative proposals as he weighs his options. After six years in the
United States, he is considering returning to India after learning that the
green card he applied for in November 2004 could take another four or five
years.
Being on a temporary work visa means that he cannot leave his job. Nor does
he want to buy a home for his family without knowing he will stay in the
country.
"Even if the job market is not as good as here, you can get a very good
salary in India," he said. "If I have offers there, I will think of
moving."
8. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/career/article.php/3599141
Are H-1B Visas a Cog in the Offshoring Machine?
By Sharon Gaudin
April 14, 2006
A consultant who has analyzed reams of government data says the H-1B visa
program is not only being used to undercut the salaries of American
computer programmers, it's also part of a larger effort to offshore U.S.
high-tech jobs to other countries.
Nine out of the 10 top companies requesting permission to file for H-1B
visas are offshoring companies, according to John Miano, a consultant for
Colosseum Builders, Inc. and the author of The Bottom of the Pay Scale --
Wages for H-1B Computer Programmers, 2004, a report done for the Center for
Immigration Studies. His report also shows that non-U.S. programmers
working here on H-1B visas are paid less than their American counterparts
-- $13,000 less.
These statistics fly in the face, he says, of industry claims that the H
-1B visa workers are needed to fill vacant seats in America's high-tech
companies, and that they will create new technologies that will open up
more jobs for U.S. workers.
''It's a giant scam going on here,'' says Miano, a board member with the
Programmers' Guild who testified before a House sub-committee on
immigration this month. ''With H-1B, the label is they need highly skilled
workers to promote U.S. industry. If you look at it, this has very little
to do with that.
''This is the engine for offshoring,'' adds Miano. ''U.S. companies say if
they don't get H-1B visas, they'll move offshore. That's a load of manure.
In reality, this is what's driving offshoring.''
Industry representatives say Miano and the pro-worker activists who support
him have it all wrong. The numbers he's using, they say, just don't add up.
''There are basic problems with John's study,'' says Stuart Anderson
executive director for the National Foundation for American Policy, a think
tank focused on trade and immigration issues. ''It's not a solid
comparison. It's not valid.''
There is a push underway to increase the cap on H-1B visa workers from
65,000 a year to 115,000. The bill also says that in coming years if
industry meets the cap limit, it automatically can be expanded by an
additional 20 percent.
The Senate Judiciary Committee already has endorsed the move. The bill is
expected to receive official Senate approval as it comes as part of the
giant immigration bill that Republicans and Democrats have been wrestling
over. However, the U.S. House of Representatives is not expected to usher
the H-1B push through quite so easily. Industry analysts say the expansion
may stall in the House, at least temporarily.
For Miano's part, he has analyzed data from 2004, and today is working on a
new report based on 2005 numbers.
For his report on the 2004 H-1B figures, which is available on the Center
for Immigration Studies website, Miano used information from Occupational
Employment Statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which
estimates wages by state and metropolitan area. He also used data taken
from Labor Condition Applications (LCA) that U.S. companies filed to the
Department of Labor. Companies file LCAs as the step right before filing
H-1B visa applications.
Miano says he would love to use the information from the actual H-1B visa
applications but the government won't release it. Congress has mandated the
release of the LCAs, but no such law exists for the visa applications.
Miano also explains that he bases his wage calculations on what companies
report they'll be paying the H-1B visa workers, compared to the prevailing
wage, which is the median wage paid to similarly employed workers in the
same geographical area.
''You can't even sit there and look at [the Labor Condition Application
data] and say you get anything good about this program,'' says Miano.
''They say there is data out there that shows that it's better. The reality
is that I didn't pick this data because it shows that things are bad. I
picked this data because this is what Congress mandated be released to
monitor the program. And this data is awful. It's not sort of awful. It's
awful.''
Who is Hiring H-1B Visa Workers?
Part of Miano's study of the LCA information was to look at what companies
are filing applications to bring in the greatest number of foreign workers.
One application can contain requests for multiple workers.
For years now, industry representatives have been saying they need to bring
in H-1B visa workers because there simply are not enough highly trained and
experienced Americans to fill the jobs. In a previous interview with
Rebecca Peters, an attorney and manager of government relations with the
Washington, D.C.-based American Council on International Personnel, she
told Datamation that bringing in H-1B visa workers actually will help
create more jobs for American IT professionals.
''These are innovators. They're coming in and making America more
competitive globally,'' says Peters, adding that H-1B workers are filling
jobs that would have otherwise remained empty. She explained that
American-based high-tech companies can bring in highly skilled workers from
other countries to help them create new technologies. And working on,
marketing and selling those new technologies will create more work here in
the U.S.
Miano says government data shows that's not always the case. Actually, the
data shows that nine out of the 10 companies filing LCAs for the largest
number of H-1B workers are offshoring companies -- not software or hardware
companies that might create new jobs.
Today, Miano is analyzing data from the 2005 Labor Condition Applications.
Although he's still a few months away from finishing the study, he says the
data shows that two-thirds of the high-tech workers are being requested for
offshoring companies. ''At two-thirds, I just stopped looking,'' he says.
''The numbers probably went even higher.''
The 2004 data shows that Wipro Ltd., an offshoring company, filed 153 LCAs
for a total of 13,796 H-1B workers. These aren't the actual visa
applications. These applications are filed before the visa application is
submitted, but Miano says they show companies' intent. Last year,
Forrester, an industry analyst firm, ranked Wipro as 'the top offshore
infrastructure management vendor'.
Infosys Technologies Ltd., an offshore outsourcing services company based
in Bangalore, India, filed 137 LCAs for 12,775 workers. Syntel, a
Michigan-based applications and business process outsourcing company, filed
82 LCAs for 9,302 workers. Tata Consultancy Services, considered to be the
largest outsourcing company based in Mumbai, India, filed 524 applications
for 5,200 workers.
Oracle, the only non-outsourcing company on the top 10 list, filed 894 LCAs
for 6,462 H-1B workers.
According to Miano, Microsoft Corp. sits at #23 on the list of companies
filing LCAs for the largest number of H-1B workers. IBM comes in at #33,
Motorola Inc. at 61, and Cisco Systems Inc. at 100.
John Bauman, president and co-founder of The Organization for the Rights of
American Workers (TORAW), claims offshoring companies bring in foreign
workers under the H-1B visa program so they can learn a job. Then the
outsourcing company ships the job offshore and the worker goes back home to
fill the position.
''We've been trying for years to connect the dots between offshoring and
visa workers,'' says Bauman, himself a project manager who has worked only
10 months in the last three and a half years. ''We see all these statements
from companies saying they don't have the skills. But, hey, if we're
training our foreign replacements, we do have the skills.''
Mike Emmons, an applications developer with the State Attorney's Office in
Orlando, Fla., says he knows this scenario all too well.
In 2002, Emmons was working as a contractor for Siemens ICN in Lake Mary,
Fla. He says one afternoon nearly 20 highly skilled, full-time employees
and contractors were let go. Siemens had contracted with Tata Consultancy
Services to bring in replacement workers from India. Emmons adds that he
was told that in order to receive a better severance package, he would need
to stay on and train his replacement -- an H-1B worker.
''I saw one reading Intro to Progress 4GL,'' he says. ''And I had 13 years
of experience... I'm sure there are some of them who are the best and the
brightest. But 80 percent to 90 percent of these people are no better than
anybody else. They're here to push wages down.''
And Emmons says the H-1B visa program is just a cog in the offshoring
machine.
''They can't move jobs out of this country unless they have these visas,''
he says. ''They bring them here to let them learn the work and then they
move it to India where it can be done a whole lot cheaper. If a company
wants to move jobs out of this country, fine. See yah. Do it and I'll do
business with another company. But to buy off Congress to get these visa
workers is wrong.''
Anderson says Miano and Emmons have it all wrong. He says there are no-
layoff protections in place to safeguard American workers. What's happening
to skew the figures, he explains, is that the outsourcing services and
consulting companies appear to be filing LCAs for a large number of workers
because they may need to move their H-1B employees from city to city in the
U.S. and approval is needed for each location.
''They may not know which cities people will go to,'' he says. ''They have
to have these applications filed ahead of time so that person can work in
all different cities. It's in the law because there's concern that someone
could get hired in Pittsburg, where the wages are less, and then moved to
Silicon Valley... It would be too much of a wage differential.''
Are H-1B Visas a Cog in the Offshoring Machine?
By Sharon Gaudin
April 14, 2006
A consultant who has analyzed reams of government data says the H-1B visa
program is not only being used to undercut the salaries of American
computer programmers, it's also part of a larger effort to offshore U.S.
high-tech jobs to other countries.
Nine out of the 10 top companies requesting permission to file for H-1B
visas are offshoring companies, according to John Miano, a consultant for
Colosseum Builders, Inc. and the author of The Bottom of the Pay Scale --
Wages for H-1B Computer Programmers, 2004, a report done for the Center for
Immigration Studies. His report also shows that non-U.S. programmers
working here on H-1B visas are paid less than their American counterparts
-- $13,000 less.
These statistics fly in the face, he says, of industry claims that the H
-1B visa workers are needed to fill vacant seats in America's high-tech
companies, and that they will create new technologies that will open up
more jobs for U.S. workers.
''It's a giant scam going on here,'' says Miano, a board member with the
Programmers' Guild who testified before a House sub-committee on
immigration this month. ''With H-1B, the label is they need highly skilled
workers to promote U.S. industry. If you look at it, this has very little
to do with that.
''This is the engine for offshoring,'' adds Miano. ''U.S. companies say if
they don't get H-1B visas, they'll move offshore. That's a load of manure.
In reality, this is what's driving offshoring.''
Industry representatives say Miano and the pro-worker activists who support
him have it all wrong. The numbers he's using, they say, just don't add up.
''There are basic problems with John's study,'' says Stuart Anderson
executive director for the National Foundation for American Policy, a think
tank focused on trade and immigration issues. ''It's not a solid
comparison. It's not valid.''
There is a push underway to increase the cap on H-1B visa workers from
65,000 a year to 115,000. The bill also says that in coming years if
industry meets the cap limit, it automatically can be expanded by an
additional 20 percent.
The Senate Judiciary Committee already has endorsed the move. The bill is
expected to receive official Senate approval as it comes as part of the
giant immigration bill that Republicans and Democrats have been wrestling
over. However, the U.S. House of Representatives is not expected to usher
the H-1B push through quite so easily. Industry analysts say the expansion
may stall in the House, at least temporarily.
For Miano's part, he has analyzed data from 2004, and today is working on a
new report based on 2005 numbers.
For his report on the 2004 H-1B figures, which is available on the Center
for Immigration Studies website, Miano used information from Occupational
Employment Statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which
estimates wages by state and metropolitan area. He also used data taken
from Labor Condition Applications (LCA) that U.S. companies filed to the
Department of Labor. Companies file LCAs as the step right before filing
H-1B visa applications.
Miano says he would love to use the information from the actual H-1B visa
applications but the government won't release it. Congress has mandated the
release of the LCAs, but no such law exists for the visa applications.
Miano also explains that he bases his wage calculations on what companies
report they'll be paying the H-1B visa workers, compared to the prevailing
wage, which is the median wage paid to similarly employed workers in the
same geographical area.
''You can't even sit there and look at [the Labor Condition Application
data] and say you get anything good about this program,'' says Miano.
''They say there is data out there that shows that it's better. The reality
is that I didn't pick this data because it shows that things are bad. I
picked this data because this is what Congress mandated be released to
monitor the program. And this data is awful. It's not sort of awful. It's
awful.''
Who is Hiring H-1B Visa Workers?
Part of Miano's study of the LCA information was to look at what companies
are filing applications to bring in the greatest number of foreign workers.
One application can contain requests for multiple workers.
For years now, industry representatives have been saying they need to bring
in H-1B visa workers because there simply are not enough highly trained and
experienced Americans to fill the jobs. In a previous interview with
Rebecca Peters, an attorney and manager of government relations with the
Washington, D.C.-based American Council on International Personnel, she
told Datamation that bringing in H-1B visa workers actually will help
create more jobs for American IT professionals.
''These are innovators. They're coming in and making America more
competitive globally,'' says Peters, adding that H-1B workers are filling
jobs that would have otherwise remained empty. She explained that
American-based high-tech companies can bring in highly skilled workers from
other countries to help them create new technologies. And working on,
marketing and selling those new technologies will create more work here in
the U.S.
Miano says government data shows that's not always the case. Actually, the
data shows that nine out of the 10 companies filing LCAs for the largest
number of H-1B workers are offshoring companies -- not software or hardware
companies that might create new jobs.
Today, Miano is analyzing data from the 2005 Labor Condition Applications.
Although he's still a few months away from finishing the study, he says the
data shows that two-thirds of the high-tech workers are being requested for
offshoring companies. ''At two-thirds, I just stopped looking,'' he says.
''The numbers probably went even higher.''
The 2004 data shows that Wipro Ltd., an offshoring company, filed 153 LCAs
for a total of 13,796 H-1B workers. These aren't the actual visa
applications. These applications are filed before the visa application is
submitted, but Miano says they show companies' intent. Last year,
Forrester, an industry analyst firm, ranked Wipro as 'the top offshore
infrastructure management vendor'.
Infosys Technologies Ltd., an offshore outsourcing services company based
in Bangalore, India, filed 137 LCAs for 12,775 workers. Syntel, a
Michigan-based applications and business process outsourcing company, filed
82 LCAs for 9,302 workers. Tata Consultancy Services, considered to be the
largest outsourcing company based in Mumbai, India, filed 524 applications
for 5,200 workers.
Oracle, the only non-outsourcing company on the top 10 list, filed 894 LCAs
for 6,462 H-1B workers.
According to Miano, Microsoft Corp. sits at #23 on the list of companies
filing LCAs for the largest number of H-1B workers. IBM comes in at #33,
Motorola Inc. at 61, and Cisco Systems Inc. at 100.
John Bauman, president and co-founder of The Organization for the Rights of
American Workers (TORAW), claims offshoring companies bring in foreign
workers under the H-1B visa program so they can learn a job. Then the
outsourcing company ships the job offshore and the worker goes back home to
fill the position.
''We've been trying for years to connect the dots between offshoring and
visa workers,'' says Bauman, himself a project manager who has worked only
10 months in the last three and a half years. ''We see all these statements
from companies saying they don't have the skills. But, hey, if we're
training our foreign replacements, we do have the skills.''
Mike Emmons, an applications developer with the State Attorney's Office in
Orlando, Fla., says he knows this scenario all too well.
In 2002, Emmons was working as a contractor for Siemens ICN in Lake Mary,
Fla. He says one afternoon nearly 20 highly skilled, full-time employees
and contractors were let go. Siemens had contracted with Tata Consultancy
Services to bring in replacement workers from India. Emmons adds that he
was told that in order to receive a better severance package, he would need
to stay on and train his replacement -- an H-1B worker.
''I saw one reading Intro to Progress 4GL,'' he says. ''And I had 13 years
of experience... I'm sure there are some of them who are the best and the
brightest. But 80 percent to 90 percent of these people are no better than
anybody else. They're here to push wages down.''
And Emmons says the H-1B visa program is just a cog in the offshoring
machine.
''They can't move jobs out of this country unless they have these visas,''
he says. ''They bring them here to let them learn the work and then they
move it to India where it can be done a whole lot cheaper. If a company
wants to move jobs out of this country, fine. See yah. Do it and I'll do
business with another company. But to buy off Congress to get these visa
workers is wrong.''
Anderson says Miano and Emmons have it all wrong. He says there are no-
layoff protections in place to safeguard American workers. What's happening
to skew the figures, he explains, is that the outsourcing services and
consulting companies appear to be filing LCAs for a large number of workers
because they may need to move their H-1B employees from city to city in the
U.S. and approval is needed for each location.
''They may not know which cities people will go to,'' he says. ''They have
to have these applications filed ahead of time so that person can work in
all different cities. It's in the law because there's concern that someone
could get hired in Pittsburg, where the wages are less, and then moved to
Silicon Valley... It would be too much of a wage differential.''
Read on to see what Miano's analysis turned up when he compared wages for
H-1B workers with their American counterparters.
9. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=177903
IIT-K students march to protest quota
Express News Service
Kanpur, April 13: Students of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur,
stepped out of their classrooms on Wednesday for a different cause.
Marching around in the campus and sporting black arm bands, they silently
voiced their protest against the proposal to extend reservation for
backward castes in all IITs and IIMs of the country by the Human Resource
Ministry.
The students have also passed a resolution and drafted a letter, expressing
dissatisfaction on the issue, to be sent to the President of India.
Chandra Mohan, a final year Mechanical engineering student, who was leading
the march said mere reservations without actual reforms would increase the
urge in several sections of the society to be included in the list of
backward classes. This, in turn, might create social unrest, he suggested.
Informing that the march was a silent protest, he said, Our aim is to
make the government aware of the feeling of IITians on the reservation
policy. We have no intention to disrupt the activities of the
institute. Mohan also clarified that IIT-K would not be demonstrating
against the issue on April 17, as proposed by other IITs, for they do not
wish to blame the institute.
Faculty member of the Physics department and a member of one of the
backward castes, M K Verma told Express Newsline that he was against the
extension of reservation at institutes like IITs and IIMs because it
would further lead to discrimination among the students. Around
20 per cent backward caste candidates qualify the IIT-JEE test every year.
So there was no need to create reserved seats for them, he said.
Pointing out the weak link in the chain, he added that the scientists and
faculty members were not openly coming out in support of the students.
If they join hands with students, the issue could be pressed harder
with the government, he said. He was one of the three faculty members
who participated in the march on Wednesday.
Head of the Humanities department at IIT-K, A K Sharma said, The
students wish to raise their concern against the proposal, he said.
Another student at IIT-K, Samta Malhotra suggested that the government
should emphasis on social upliftment of the backward classes by promoting
education at primary and secondary level, provide basic health facilities,
implement land and labour reforms etc to help them. On the issue of their
protest being unheard by the government, Sandip Chaddha of the Metallurgy
branch said, If the protest march does not bring any positive
results, they would create a common platform with other institutes and stir
up a movement.
10. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.americaneconomicalert.org/View_art.asp?Prod_ID=2399
How the Cheap Labor Lobby Is Duping the Left Into Doing Its Work For Free
By Alan Tonelson
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
As self-styled progressives mobilize to head off the Sensenbrenner border
enforcement bill and turn the United States into even more of a magnet for
illegal immigration, they might consider how their efforts are playing
right into the hands of a powerful Cheap Labor Lobby aiming to speed up the
race to the bottom for all Americans -- including legal immigrants.
A great example of the Lobbys single-minded devotion to fattening
members profits by forcing inflation-adjusted wages ever lower came in a
recent Washington Post article covering a new report on the rising tide of
illegal immigration. According to National Restaurant Association
spokesman John Gay, the employers he represents hire illegals only because
they simply cant find enough help any other way. Gay, who also
co-chairs the Essential Worker Immigration Coalition -- a leading Cheap
Labor Lobby umbrella group -- added that his industry will need "15 percent
more people over the next few years" and that without a continuing
immigration flood, he "doesnt know where they will come from."
The plight of these businesses does indeed sound desperate -- until you ask
whats been happening to the wages they pay lately. The answer:
Theyve stagnated at pathetically low levels or have actually fallen.
Indeed, in the food services and drinking places category as a whole, U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics figures show, real hourly wages dropped by 1.65
percent between 2000 and 2005 (to $5.36 in 1990 dollars). In full-service
restaurants, they rose by a grand total of 0.74 percent during this period
(to $5.47 in 1990 dollars), but in "limited-service eating places," real
wages sank by 3.65 percent (to $5.01 in 1990 dollars)..
As anyone who believes in the law of supply and demand knows, falling wages
in any part of the economy as a whole are proof positive that a labor
shortage claim for that sector is pure fiction. If so many employers were
chasing so few workers, theyd be bidding their wages way up.
Instead, what the wage figures make indisputably clear is that the ongoing
illegal immigration inflow enables the food service industry -- among
others -- to keep labor costs at sub-poverty levels. The Cheap Labor
Lobbys brazen demands for looser borders and guest-worker programs make
just as clear its determination to turn lousy-paying jobs into even
worse-paying jobs. And the progressive immigration advocates support for
the Open Borders agenda makes clear that too many on the left are emoting
rather than thinking.
www.ZaZona.com
Support this Newsletter and ZaZona.com by donating:
www.zazona.com/Donations.htm
To Subscribe, Unsubscribe or to view the Archive go to:
http://www.zazona.com/shameh1b/JobDestructionNews.htm
Back to archives