Comments on: H-1B visas hit roadblock in Congress

Senate panel votes to double guest worker visas next year. Prospects look dimmer in the House.

[stopoffshoring]

Read how badly H-1bs are paid

Here is a link to the study mentioned in the article.

http://www.cis.org/articles/2005/back1305.html

The H-1B swindle

A new study shows that companies hire foreign workers for cheap labor, not skill

Reality Check, By Ephraim Schwartz

October 25, 2005

It appears there is hard evidence to prove that employers are using the H-1B visa program to hire cheap labor; that is, to pay lower wages than the national average for programming jobs.

According to "The Bottom of the Pay Scale: Wages for H-1B Computer Programmers ? F.Y. 2004," a report by Programmers Guild board member John Miano, non-U.S. citizens working in the United States on an H-1B visa are paid "significantly less than their American counterparts." How much less? "On average, applications for H-1B workers in computer occupations were for wages $13,000 less than Americans in the same occupation and state."

Miano based his report on OES (Occupational Employment Statistics) data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics which estimates wages for the entire country by state and metropolitan area. The report?s H-1B wage data came from the U.S. Department of Labor?s H-1B disclosure Web site.

Miano went out of his way to be balanced, and whenever possible he gave the benefit of the doubt to the employer. For example, he used OES data from 2003 because this is the wage information that would have been available to the employers when filing an LCA (labor condition application).

Miano had some difficulty matching OES job codes with LCA job titles, which employers typically create. Where both the OES and the LCA listed a job as "programmer/analyst," Miano took the conservative approach of assuming that the LCA was describing a programmer, a job title that typically earns a lower wage than a systems analyst.

Nonetheless, Miano?s report shows that wages paid to H-1B workers in computer programming occupations had a mean salary of $52,312, while the OES mean was $67,700; a difference of $15,388. The report also lists the OES median salary as $65,003, or $12,691 higher than the H-1B median.

When you look at computer job titles by state, California has one of the biggest differentials between OES salaries and H-1B salaries. The average salary for a programmer in California is $73,960, according to the OES. The average salary paid to an H-1B visa worker for the same job is $53,387; a difference of $20,573.

Here are some other interesting national wage comparisons: The mean salary of an H-1B computer scientist is $78,169, versus $90,146 according to the OES. For an H-1B network analyst, the mean salary is $55,358, versus the OES mean salary of $64,799. And for the title "system administrator," there was a $17,478 difference in salary between the H-1B mean and the OES mean.

H-1B visa workers were also concentrated at the bottom end of the wage scale, with the majority of H-1B visa workers in the 10-24 percentile range. "That means the largest concentration of H-1B workers make less than [the] highest 75 percent of the U.S. wage earners," the report notes.

While it would be difficult to prove that any one particular employer is hiring foreign workers to pay less, the statistics show us that, for whatever reason, this is exactly what is happening on a nationwide basis. Miano says lobbyists will admit that a small number of companies are abusing the H-1B program, but what he has found in this research is that almost everyone is abusing it.

"Abuse is by far more common than legitimate use," he says.

***
Help us stop the H-1b increase. Here is a link to an already written oposition letter that will be sent to Congress opposing the H-1b increase. Please use the link email Congress. The career you save may be your own.

http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/H1B

[JoeF2]

Oh, yeah, a study from an anti-immigrant

Not surprising that Mr. Miano's "study" comes to such conclusions, since it is the declared goal of his organization to abolish the H1 program.
Gee, what a coincidence that they have a "study" supporting just that...
I suggest quoting a real study instead of this pamphlet...

[stopoffshoring]

Read how badly H-1bs are paid

Here is a link to the study mentioned in the article.

http://www.cis.org/articles/2005/back1305.html

The H-1B swindle

A new study shows that companies hire foreign workers for cheap labor, not skill

Reality Check, By Ephraim Schwartz

October 25, 2005

It appears there is hard evidence to prove that employers are using the H-1B visa program to hire cheap labor; that is, to pay lower wages than the national average for programming jobs.

According to "The Bottom of the Pay Scale: Wages for H-1B Computer Programmers ? F.Y. 2004," a report by Programmers Guild board member John Miano, non-U.S. citizens working in the United States on an H-1B visa are paid "significantly less than their American counterparts." How much less? "On average, applications for H-1B workers in computer occupations were for wages $13,000 less than Americans in the same occupation and state."

Miano based his report on OES (Occupational Employment Statistics) data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics which estimates wages for the entire country by state and metropolitan area. The report?s H-1B wage data came from the U.S. Department of Labor?s H-1B disclosure Web site.

Miano went out of his way to be balanced, and whenever possible he gave the benefit of the doubt to the employer. For example, he used OES data from 2003 because this is the wage information that would have been available to the employers when filing an LCA (labor condition application).

Miano had some difficulty matching OES job codes with LCA job titles, which employers typically create. Where both the OES and the LCA listed a job as "programmer/analyst," Miano took the conservative approach of assuming that the LCA was describing a programmer, a job title that typically earns a lower wage than a systems analyst.

Nonetheless, Miano?s report shows that wages paid to H-1B workers in computer programming occupations had a mean salary of $52,312, while the OES mean was $67,700; a difference of $15,388. The report also lists the OES median salary as $65,003, or $12,691 higher than the H-1B median.

When you look at computer job titles by state, California has one of the biggest differentials between OES salaries and H-1B salaries. The average salary for a programmer in California is $73,960, according to the OES. The average salary paid to an H-1B visa worker for the same job is $53,387; a difference of $20,573.

Here are some other interesting national wage comparisons: The mean salary of an H-1B computer scientist is $78,169, versus $90,146 according to the OES. For an H-1B network analyst, the mean salary is $55,358, versus the OES mean salary of $64,799. And for the title "system administrator," there was a $17,478 difference in salary between the H-1B mean and the OES mean.

H-1B visa workers were also concentrated at the bottom end of the wage scale, with the majority of H-1B visa workers in the 10-24 percentile range. "That means the largest concentration of H-1B workers make less than [the] highest 75 percent of the U.S. wage earners," the report notes.

While it would be difficult to prove that any one particular employer is hiring foreign workers to pay less, the statistics show us that, for whatever reason, this is exactly what is happening on a nationwide basis. Miano says lobbyists will admit that a small number of companies are abusing the H-1B program, but what he has found in this research is that almost everyone is abusing it.

"Abuse is by far more common than legitimate use," he says.

***
Help us stop the H-1b increase. Here is a link to an already written oposition letter that will be sent to Congress opposing the H-1b increase. Please use the link email Congress. The career you save may be your own.

http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/H1B

[stopoffshoring]

Read how badly H-1bs are paid

Here is a link to the study mentioned in the article.

http://www.cis.org/articles/2005/back1305.html

The H-1B swindle

A new study shows that companies hire foreign workers for cheap labor, not skill

Reality Check, By Ephraim Schwartz

October 25, 2005

It appears there is hard evidence to prove that employers are using the H-1B visa program to hire cheap labor; that is, to pay lower wages than the national average for programming jobs.

According to "The Bottom of the Pay Scale: Wages for H-1B Computer Programmers ? F.Y. 2004," a report by Programmers Guild board member John Miano, non-U.S. citizens working in the United States on an H-1B visa are paid "significantly less than their American counterparts." How much less? "On average, applications for H-1B workers in computer occupations were for wages $13,000 less than Americans in the same occupation and state."

Miano based his report on OES (Occupational Employment Statistics) data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics which estimates wages for the entire country by state and metropolitan area. The report?s H-1B wage data came from the U.S. Department of Labor?s H-1B disclosure Web site.

Miano went out of his way to be balanced, and whenever possible he gave the benefit of the doubt to the employer. For example, he used OES data from 2003 because this is the wage information that would have been available to the employers when filing an LCA (labor condition application).

Miano had some difficulty matching OES job codes with LCA job titles, which employers typically create. Where both the OES and the LCA listed a job as "programmer/analyst," Miano took the conservative approach of assuming that the LCA was describing a programmer, a job title that typically earns a lower wage than a systems analyst.

Nonetheless, Miano?s report shows that wages paid to H-1B workers in computer programming occupations had a mean salary of $52,312, while the OES mean was $67,700; a difference of $15,388. The report also lists the OES median salary as $65,003, or $12,691 higher than the H-1B median.

When you look at computer job titles by state, California has one of the biggest differentials between OES salaries and H-1B salaries. The average salary for a programmer in California is $73,960, according to the OES. The average salary paid to an H-1B visa worker for the same job is $53,387; a difference of $20,573.

Here are some other interesting national wage comparisons: The mean salary of an H-1B computer scientist is $78,169, versus $90,146 according to the OES. For an H-1B network analyst, the mean salary is $55,358, versus the OES mean salary of $64,799. And for the title "system administrator," there was a $17,478 difference in salary between the H-1B mean and the OES mean.

H-1B visa workers were also concentrated at the bottom end of the wage scale, with the majority of H-1B visa workers in the 10-24 percentile range. "That means the largest concentration of H-1B workers make less than [the] highest 75 percent of the U.S. wage earners," the report notes.

While it would be difficult to prove that any one particular employer is hiring foreign workers to pay less, the statistics show us that, for whatever reason, this is exactly what is happening on a nationwide basis. Miano says lobbyists will admit that a small number of companies are abusing the H-1B program, but what he has found in this research is that almost everyone is abusing it.

"Abuse is by far more common than legitimate use," he says.

***
Help us stop the H-1b increase. Here is a link to an already written oposition letter that will be sent to Congress opposing the H-1b increase. Please use the link email Congress. The career you save may be your own.

http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/H1B

[stopoffshoring]

Software and mortgage companies violate immmigration H-1b laws

Software and mortgage companies violate immmigration H-1b laws

By TODD MCHALE
Burlington County Times

CINNAMINSON ? A local software company and a northern New Jersey mortgage company have been found in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act and ordered to pay back wages to more than a dozen specialized foreign workers.

An administrative law judge from the U.S. Department of Labor ruled that Priority I Software Solutions LLC of Cinnaminson and Home Mortgage Co. of America Inc. of Hamburg, Sussex County, must pay a total of $567,090 in back wages to 16 foreign workers hired under what is known as the H-1B visa program.

Leni Uddyback-Fortson, spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Labor, said Priority 1 Software Solutions did not pay two workers from Turkey the prevailing wage as required under the visa program.

The H-1B visa program permits U.S. employers to temporarily hire foreign workers to fill jobs requiring ?highly specialized knowledge? and a bachelor's degree or higher.

Employers must pay foreign workers at least the same wage as they do other employees who perform the same type of work, or the prevailing wage in the area.

?When company applies to the (H-1B visa program), they must document what workers will be doing and what the prevailing wage is for that position,? Uddyback-Fortson said. ?The program is not to undercut U.S. workers.?

According to court documents, Priority I filed the necessary documents with the Labor Department in order to secure work visas for two Web developers, Ali Batuk and Emrah Gozcu, to work on computer security software being marketed by the company, and other computer related tasks.

The prevailing wage was listed as $58,500. However, Batuk testified that he was only given ?pocket money,? between $50 and $100 a week while employed at Priority I from May 2001 to February 2002.

Gozcu was employed at the company from July to September of 2001.

Batuk and Gozcu were given housing accommodations in Moorestown while employed at the company, but that was not listed as part of the employee pay.

Anthony Corradetti, president of Priority I, disputed the determination during a hearing in Cherry Hill last year, contending that Batuk and Gozcu were shareholders in the company.

The judge disagreed and ruled earlier this month that Corradetti must pay $54,054 to the Labor Department's regional manager to be distributed to Batuk and Gozcu for back wages.

Corradetti could not be reached for comment.

In the North Jersey case, an administrative law judge held that Home Mortgage Co. of America Inc., and its president, Roland David, willfully failed to pay 14 foreign workers the prevailing wages required by law.

The defendants also misrepresented the job classifications on the applications used to obtain employment status for the workers. The company and David were ordered to pay $513,036 in back wages and $84,000 in civil money penalties. The company also was disqualified in the H-1B visa program for two years.

E-mail: TODD MCHALE "

****
Help us fight the H-1b increase. Please use the following link to send an all ready written letter to Congress opposing the H-1b increase. We stopped the H1-b increase last year and toeghter we can stop it again this year. The career you save may be your own.

http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/H1B

[JoeF2]

Copyright violation

Do you have the permission of the author to post his article here?

And besides, the article shows nicely that companies that violate H1 laws get punished.
So, the laws about the H1 work are enforced.
Care to explain why that is bad?

[stopoffshoring]

Software and mortgage companies violate immmigration H-1b laws

Software and mortgage companies violate immmigration H-1b laws

By TODD MCHALE
Burlington County Times

CINNAMINSON ? A local software company and a northern New Jersey mortgage company have been found in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act and ordered to pay back wages to more than a dozen specialized foreign workers.

An administrative law judge from the U.S. Department of Labor ruled that Priority I Software Solutions LLC of Cinnaminson and Home Mortgage Co. of America Inc. of Hamburg, Sussex County, must pay a total of $567,090 in back wages to 16 foreign workers hired under what is known as the H-1B visa program.

Leni Uddyback-Fortson, spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Labor, said Priority 1 Software Solutions did not pay two workers from Turkey the prevailing wage as required under the visa program.

The H-1B visa program permits U.S. employers to temporarily hire foreign workers to fill jobs requiring ?highly specialized knowledge? and a bachelor's degree or higher.

Employers must pay foreign workers at least the same wage as they do other employees who perform the same type of work, or the prevailing wage in the area.

?When company applies to the (H-1B visa program), they must document what workers will be doing and what the prevailing wage is for that position,? Uddyback-Fortson said. ?The program is not to undercut U.S. workers.?

According to court documents, Priority I filed the necessary documents with the Labor Department in order to secure work visas for two Web developers, Ali Batuk and Emrah Gozcu, to work on computer security software being marketed by the company, and other computer related tasks.

The prevailing wage was listed as $58,500. However, Batuk testified that he was only given ?pocket money,? between $50 and $100 a week while employed at Priority I from May 2001 to February 2002.

Gozcu was employed at the company from July to September of 2001.

Batuk and Gozcu were given housing accommodations in Moorestown while employed at the company, but that was not listed as part of the employee pay.

Anthony Corradetti, president of Priority I, disputed the determination during a hearing in Cherry Hill last year, contending that Batuk and Gozcu were shareholders in the company.

The judge disagreed and ruled earlier this month that Corradetti must pay $54,054 to the Labor Department's regional manager to be distributed to Batuk and Gozcu for back wages.

Corradetti could not be reached for comment.

In the North Jersey case, an administrative law judge held that Home Mortgage Co. of America Inc., and its president, Roland David, willfully failed to pay 14 foreign workers the prevailing wages required by law.

The defendants also misrepresented the job classifications on the applications used to obtain employment status for the workers. The company and David were ordered to pay $513,036 in back wages and $84,000 in civil money penalties. The company also was disqualified in the H-1B visa program for two years.

E-mail: TODD MCHALE "

****
Help us fight the H-1b increase. Please use the following link to send an all ready written letter to Congress opposing the H-1b increase. We stopped the H1-b increase last year and toeghter we can stop it again this year. The career you save may be your own.

http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/H1B

[JoeF2]

Copyright violation

Do you have the permission of the author to post his article here?

And besides, the article shows nicely that companies that violate H1 laws get punished.
So, the laws about the H1 work are enforced.
Care to explain why that is bad?

[stopoffshoring]

IEEE-USA questions expanding H-1B program

IEEE-USA questions expanding H-1B program

Spencer Chin
(03/20/2006 4:49 PM EST)

URL: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=183701165

WASHINGTON ? Despite numerous government reports pointing out major flaws and weaknesses of the H-1B visa program, Congress is considering increasing the annual H-1B visa cap by at least 50,000 without strengthening safeguards to protect foreign and domestic technology workers.

The reports reveal ?significant weaknesses in the H-1B program that must be corrected to ensure that U.S workers are not adversely affected and H-1B workers are not exploited,? said IEEE-USA president Ralph W. Wyndrum Jr., in a March 15 letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee. ?As the administration concluded last year, the program has major flaws that leave it vulnerable to fraud and abuse.?

Wyndrum also questioned why Congress is considering increasing the H-1B visa cap from 65,000 to 115,000, and include an automatic escalator mechanism for future years, when current legislative provisions would expand permanent admissions of skilled foreign professionals. Among the proposals is a new student visa (F-4) that leads to a green card for foreign nationals pursuing advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics at U.S. colleges.

Another proposal would expand employment-based immigrant admissions visas from 140,000 to 290,000; exclude immediate family members from the limit; recapture unused immigrant visas from prior years and exempt advanced-degree professionals from the cap.

IEEE-USA believes the permanent immigration of skilled scientists and engineers is better for our country?s capacity to innovate and meet high-tech workforce demands than expanding the temporary H-1B guest worker program.

The industry group continues to rally against the H-1B program, having announced opposition to the program last October. IEEE supports the H-1B reform legislation Rep. Bill Pascrell introduced last November. None of his recommendations for correcting the serious flaws in the H-1B program are included in the latest proposal before Congress.

"Immigration-based admissions level the playing field for all workers, and ensure that America benefits from recruiting the world?s best and brightest as future Americans, rather than training future competitors," Wyndrum said. "We hope Congress will see that permanent immigration is the better solution to strengthening the U.S. high-tech workforce."

In January, Congress dropped a provision to increase H-1B visa expansion from a budget reconciliation package.

[JoeF2]

That is not the position of the IEEE

It is just the (mis-guided) position of the US-branch of the IEEE.
And in addition, you only quote 1/2 of the IEEE-USA position... They advocate to increase the numbers of Greencards instead of the number of H1s.

[stopoffshoring]

IEEE-USA questions expanding H-1B program

IEEE-USA questions expanding H-1B program

Spencer Chin
(03/20/2006 4:49 PM EST)

URL: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=183701165

WASHINGTON ? Despite numerous government reports pointing out major flaws and weaknesses of the H-1B visa program, Congress is considering increasing the annual H-1B visa cap by at least 50,000 without strengthening safeguards to protect foreign and domestic technology workers.

The reports reveal ?significant weaknesses in the H-1B program that must be corrected to ensure that U.S workers are not adversely affected and H-1B workers are not exploited,? said IEEE-USA president Ralph W. Wyndrum Jr., in a March 15 letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee. ?As the administration concluded last year, the program has major flaws that leave it vulnerable to fraud and abuse.?

Wyndrum also questioned why Congress is considering increasing the H-1B visa cap from 65,000 to 115,000, and include an automatic escalator mechanism for future years, when current legislative provisions would expand permanent admissions of skilled foreign professionals. Among the proposals is a new student visa (F-4) that leads to a green card for foreign nationals pursuing advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics at U.S. colleges.

Another proposal would expand employment-based immigrant admissions visas from 140,000 to 290,000; exclude immediate family members from the limit; recapture unused immigrant visas from prior years and exempt advanced-degree professionals from the cap.

IEEE-USA believes the permanent immigration of skilled scientists and engineers is better for our country?s capacity to innovate and meet high-tech workforce demands than expanding the temporary H-1B guest worker program.

The industry group continues to rally against the H-1B program, having announced opposition to the program last October. IEEE supports the H-1B reform legislation Rep. Bill Pascrell introduced last November. None of his recommendations for correcting the serious flaws in the H-1B program are included in the latest proposal before Congress.

"Immigration-based admissions level the playing field for all workers, and ensure that America benefits from recruiting the world?s best and brightest as future Americans, rather than training future competitors," Wyndrum said. "We hope Congress will see that permanent immigration is the better solution to strengthening the U.S. high-tech workforce."

In January, Congress dropped a provision to increase H-1B visa expansion from a budget reconciliation package.

[JoeF2]

That is not the position of the IEEE

It is just the (mis-guided) position of the US-branch of the IEEE.
And in addition, you only quote 1/2 of the IEEE-USA position... They advocate to increase the numbers of Greencards instead of the number of H1s.

[stopoffshoring]

Fuzzy Data, Flawed Economics, Underlie H-1b, Outsourcing Enthusiasm

Fuzzy Data, Flawed Economics, Underlie H-1b, Outsourcing Enthusiasm

We've heard it all before: arguments for increasing the number of H-1b visas granted to foreign engineers and scientists. Assurances that, at the end of the day, offshoring is good for the economy.

How valid are the pro-H-1b, pro-outsourcing, briefs?

Assertion: In both numbers and quality, the U.S. lags in engineering personnel. "Last year [2004] more than 600,000 engineers graduated from institutions of higher education in China. In India, the figure was 350,000. In America, it was about 70,000." [Broad Federal Effort Urgently Needed to Create New, High-Quality Jobs for All Americans in the 21st Century, National Academy of Sciences press release, October 12, 2005)

Fact: These widely circulated figures rely on data from the education ministries of the various foreign countries. But much of what qualifies as engineering programs in Asia would not make the cut in the U.S. "As a result, any bachelor's or short-cycle [2-3 year] degree with ?engineering? in its title is included in these numbers, regardless of the degree's field or the academic rigor associated with it. This means that the reported number of engineers produced by China in 2004 may very well include the equivalent of motor mechanics and industrial technicians." [Framing the Engineering Outsourcing Debate, Duke University School of Engineering report, December 12 2005 (PDF)]

China has roughly four times the population of the U.S., and India is about three times as large. If you adjust the official engineering degree numbers?overstatements and all?for population size, this is what you get:

U.S.: 750 engineering degrees awarded per 1 million citizens

China: 500 engineering degrees awarded per 1 million citizens

India: 200 engineering degrees awarded per 1 million citizens

Obviously, our lead would be still larger if comparable "engineering degree" definitions were used.

Assertion: H-1bs are preferable to outsourcing. "In my view, the H-1B visa category, if properly administered and monitored, can be an antidote to concerns about overseas outsourcing. Use of H-1B visas encourages work in the United States and thus can help keep and grow jobs in the United States." [http://Congressional testimony of Mr. Stephen Yale-Loehr, Immigration Lawyers Association, September 16, 2003|http://Congressional testimony of Mr. Stephen Yale-Loehr, Immigration Lawyers Association, September 16, 2003]

Fact: Far from being an alternative, H-1bs facilitate outsourcing. Indeed, a just-released study lists immigration?together with cheap global telecommunications, advances in information technology, and the free market economy?as a major enabler of the outsourcing phenomenon:

"?In concentrated high-tech regions of the United States, most notably in Silicon Valley, communities of Indian high-tech entrepreneurs emerged and bonded with other Indians in the high-tech community, and similarly for the Chinese. In many cases, these technical entrepreneurs were the ones who started offshoring companies or who were the go-betweens to ease the difficulties of doing business across so many miles and such different cultures. U.S immigration policy, especially the H1-B and L-1 visa programs, have enabled Indians and other foreigners to gain valuable experience and contacts in the United States before returning to their home countries. [Globalization and Offshoring of Software, Association for Computing Machinery]

Assertion: Outsourcing is good for profits, thereby enabling U.S. corporations to create more jobs here than they shift abroad. Alleged evidence: "Despite all the publicity in the United States about jobs being lost to India and China, the size of the IT employment market in the United States today is higher than it was at the height of the dot.com boom." [http://Study says U.S. tech hiring grows, CNNMoney, February 23, 2006|http://Study says U.S. tech hiring grows, CNNMoney, February 23, 2006]

Fact: From the University of California-Davis? redoubtable Norman Matloff: "The highlight of the study?.is that computer-related jobs are more numerous today (actually in 2004) than in 1999, the height of the dot-com era. That is highly misleading?.because they are including job categories which are not suitable for computer science graduates, e.g. computer support jobs [http://sales, accounting, etc.|http://sales, accounting, etc.] (Worse, they include such a category for 2004 that didn't even exist in BLS data in earlier years.)" [http://Matloff?s H-1B/L-1/offshoring e-newsletter, February 24, 2006.|http://Matloff?s H-1B/L-1/offshoring e-newsletter, February 24, 2006.]

Another sleight of hand stomped on by Matloff: "They chose 1999 as their base, even though the numbers peaked during 2000-2001, with figures about 30% higher than 1999." [http://H-1B/L-1/offshoring e-newsletter, February 24, 2006.|http://H-1B/L-1/offshoring e-newsletter, February 24, 2006.]

Assertion: Globalization rules! Even if jobs are lost to outsourcing, the resulting price reductions and profit increases will increase demand and investment stateside. Eventually U.S. incomes will recover and expand.

Fact: The globalization happy-talk may not be relevant to a high-wage economy like the U.S.

Economics Nobel laureate Paul Samuelson has noted that classical economics long assumed that, while some groups are hurt by free trade, "?the gains of the American winners are big enough to more than compensate the losers".

But, writing in 2004, Samuelson questioned whether the classical result holds when the trading parties are as different as the U.S. and China. According to Samuelson, a low-wage country that is rapidly improving its technology, like China or India, has the potential to reduce American wages in outsourced fields like call-center services and computer programming. [Where Ricardo and Mill Rebut and Confirm Arguments of Mainstream Economists Supporting Globalization, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 2004]

"Being able to purchase groceries 20 percent cheaper at Wal-Mart does not necessarily make up for the wage losses," Samuelson said in an interview. [A Dissenter on Outsourcing States His Case, ECT New Business Desk, September 7, 2004).

Edwin S. Rubenstein (email him) is President of ESR Research Economic Consultants in Indianapolis.

[stopoffshoring]

Fuzzy Data, Flawed Economics, Underlie H-1b, Outsourcing Enthusiasm

Fuzzy Data, Flawed Economics, Underlie H-1b, Outsourcing Enthusiasm

We've heard it all before: arguments for increasing the number of H-1b visas granted to foreign engineers and scientists. Assurances that, at the end of the day, offshoring is good for the economy.

How valid are the pro-H-1b, pro-outsourcing, briefs?

Assertion: In both numbers and quality, the U.S. lags in engineering personnel. "Last year [2004] more than 600,000 engineers graduated from institutions of higher education in China. In India, the figure was 350,000. In America, it was about 70,000." [Broad Federal Effort Urgently Needed to Create New, High-Quality Jobs for All Americans in the 21st Century, National Academy of Sciences press release, October 12, 2005)

Fact: These widely circulated figures rely on data from the education ministries of the various foreign countries. But much of what qualifies as engineering programs in Asia would not make the cut in the U.S. "As a result, any bachelor's or short-cycle [2-3 year] degree with ?engineering? in its title is included in these numbers, regardless of the degree's field or the academic rigor associated with it. This means that the reported number of engineers produced by China in 2004 may very well include the equivalent of motor mechanics and industrial technicians." [Framing the Engineering Outsourcing Debate, Duke University School of Engineering report, December 12 2005 (PDF)]

China has roughly four times the population of the U.S., and India is about three times as large. If you adjust the official engineering degree numbers?overstatements and all?for population size, this is what you get:

U.S.: 750 engineering degrees awarded per 1 million citizens

China: 500 engineering degrees awarded per 1 million citizens

India: 200 engineering degrees awarded per 1 million citizens

Obviously, our lead would be still larger if comparable "engineering degree" definitions were used.

Assertion: H-1bs are preferable to outsourcing. "In my view, the H-1B visa category, if properly administered and monitored, can be an antidote to concerns about overseas outsourcing. Use of H-1B visas encourages work in the United States and thus can help keep and grow jobs in the United States." [http://Congressional testimony of Mr. Stephen Yale-Loehr, Immigration Lawyers Association, September 16, 2003|http://Congressional testimony of Mr. Stephen Yale-Loehr, Immigration Lawyers Association, September 16, 2003]

Fact: Far from being an alternative, H-1bs facilitate outsourcing. Indeed, a just-released study lists immigration?together with cheap global telecommunications, advances in information technology, and the free market economy?as a major enabler of the outsourcing phenomenon:

"?In concentrated high-tech regions of the United States, most notably in Silicon Valley, communities of Indian high-tech entrepreneurs emerged and bonded with other Indians in the high-tech community, and similarly for the Chinese. In many cases, these technical entrepreneurs were the ones who started offshoring companies or who were the go-betweens to ease the difficulties of doing business across so many miles and such different cultures. U.S immigration policy, especially the H1-B and L-1 visa programs, have enabled Indians and other foreigners to gain valuable experience and contacts in the United States before returning to their home countries. [Globalization and Offshoring of Software, Association for Computing Machinery]

Assertion: Outsourcing is good for profits, thereby enabling U.S. corporations to create more jobs here than they shift abroad. Alleged evidence: "Despite all the publicity in the United States about jobs being lost to India and China, the size of the IT employment market in the United States today is higher than it was at the height of the dot.com boom." [http://Study says U.S. tech hiring grows, CNNMoney, February 23, 2006|http://Study says U.S. tech hiring grows, CNNMoney, February 23, 2006]

Fact: From the University of California-Davis? redoubtable Norman Matloff: "The highlight of the study?.is that computer-related jobs are more numerous today (actually in 2004) than in 1999, the height of the dot-com era. That is highly misleading?.because they are including job categories which are not suitable for computer science graduates, e.g. computer support jobs [http://sales, accounting, etc.|http://sales, accounting, etc.] (Worse, they include such a category for 2004 that didn't even exist in BLS data in earlier years.)" [http://Matloff?s H-1B/L-1/offshoring e-newsletter, February 24, 2006.|http://Matloff?s H-1B/L-1/offshoring e-newsletter, February 24, 2006.]

Another sleight of hand stomped on by Matloff: "They chose 1999 as their base, even though the numbers peaked during 2000-2001, with figures about 30% higher than 1999." [http://H-1B/L-1/offshoring e-newsletter, February 24, 2006.|http://H-1B/L-1/offshoring e-newsletter, February 24, 2006.]

Assertion: Globalization rules! Even if jobs are lost to outsourcing, the resulting price reductions and profit increases will increase demand and investment stateside. Eventually U.S. incomes will recover and expand.

Fact: The globalization happy-talk may not be relevant to a high-wage economy like the U.S.

Economics Nobel laureate Paul Samuelson has noted that classical economics long assumed that, while some groups are hurt by free trade, "?the gains of the American winners are big enough to more than compensate the losers".

But, writing in 2004, Samuelson questioned whether the classical result holds when the trading parties are as different as the U.S. and China. According to Samuelson, a low-wage country that is rapidly improving its technology, like China or India, has the potential to reduce American wages in outsourced fields like call-center services and computer programming. [Where Ricardo and Mill Rebut and Confirm Arguments of Mainstream Economists Supporting Globalization, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 2004]

"Being able to purchase groceries 20 percent cheaper at Wal-Mart does not necessarily make up for the wage losses," Samuelson said in an interview. [A Dissenter on Outsourcing States His Case, ECT New Business Desk, September 7, 2004).

Edwin S. Rubenstein (email him) is President of ESR Research Economic Consultants in Indianapolis.

[stopoffshoring]

America's Bleak Jobs Future

America's Bleak Jobs Future

Nation Polarized Between Rich and Poor

By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS
3/17/2006

On February 20 Forbes.com told its readers with a straight face that "the American job-generation machine rolls on. The economy will create 19 million new payroll jobs in the decade to 2014." Forbes took its information from the 10-year jobs projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Department of Labor, released last December.

If the job growth of the past half-decade is a guide, the forecast of 19 million new jobs is optimistic, to say the least. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics payroll jobs data, from January 2001 - January 2006 the US economy created 1,054,000 net new private sector jobs and 1,039,000 net new government jobs for a total five-year figure of 2,093,000. How does the US Department of Labor get from 2 million jobs in five years to 19 million in ten years?

I cannot answer that question.

However, the jobs record for the past five years tells a clear story. The BLS payroll jobs data contradict the hype from business organizations, such as the US Chamber of Commerce, and from "studies" financed by outsourcing corporations that offshore jobs outsourcing is good for America. Large corporations, which have individually dismissed thousands of their US employees and replaced them with foreigners, claim that jobs outsourcing allows them to save money that can be used to hire more Americans. The corporations and the business organizations are very successful in placing this disinformation in the media. The lie is repeated everywhere and has become a mantra among no-think economists and politicians. However, no sign of these jobs can be found in the payroll jobs data. But there is abundant evidence of the lost American jobs.

Information technology workers and computer software engineers have been especially heavily hit by offshore jobs outsourcing. During the past five years (Jan 01 - Jan 06), the information sector of the US economy lost 645,000 jobs or 17.4% of its work force. Computer systems design and related lost 116,000 jobs or 8.7% of its work force. Clearly, jobs outsourcing is not creating jobs in computer engineering and information technology. Indeed, jobs outsourcing is not even creating jobs in related fields.

For the past five years US job growth was limited to these four areas: education and health services, state and local government, leisure and hospitality, financial services. There was no US job growth outside these four areas of domestic nontradable services.

Oracle, for example, which has been handing out thousands of pink slips, has recently announced two thousand more jobs being moved to India. How is Oracle's move of US jobs to India creating jobs in the US for waitresses and bartenders, hospital orderlies, state and local government and credit agencies, the only areas of job growth?

Engineering jobs in general are in decline, because the manufacturing sectors that employ engineers are in decline. During the last five years, the US work force lost 1.2 million jobs in the manufacture of machinery, computers, electronics, semiconductors, communication equipment, electrical equipment, motor vehicles and transportation equipment. The BLS payroll job numbers show a total of 70,000 jobs created in all fields of architecture and engineering, including clerical personal, over the past five years. That comes to a mere 14,000 jobs per year (including clerical workers). What is the annual graduating class in engineering and architecture? How is there a shortage of engineers when more graduate than can be employed?

Of course, many new graduates take jobs opened by retirements. We would have to know the retirement rates to get a solid handle on the fate of new graduates. But it cannot be very pleasant, with declining employment in the manufacturing sectors that employ engineers and a minimum of 65,000 H-1B visas annually for foreigners plus an indeterminate number of L-1 visas.

It is not only the Bush regime that bases its policies on lies. Not content with outsourcing Americans' jobs, corporations want to fill the remaining jobs in America with foreigners on work visas. Business organizations lie about a shortage of engineers, scientists and even nurses. Business organizations have successfully used pubic relations firms and bought-and-paid-for "economic studies" to convince policymakers that American business cannot function without H-1B visas that permit the importation of indentured employees from abroad who are paid less than the going US salaries. The so-called shortage is, in fact, a replacement of American employees with foreign employees, with the soon-to-be-discharged American employee first required to train his replacement.

It is amazing to see free-market economists rush to the defense of H-1B visas. The visas are nothing but a subsidy to US companies at the expense of US citizens.

Keep in mind this subsidy to US corporations for employing foreign workers in place of Americans as we examine the Labor Department's projections of the ten fastest growing US occupations over the 2004-2014 decade.

All of the occupations with the largest projected employment growth (in terms of the number of jobs) over the next decade are in nontradable domestic services. The top ten sources of the most jobs in "superpower" America are: retail salespersons, registered nurses, postsecondary teachers, customer service representatives, janitors and cleaners, waiters and waitresses, food preparation (includes fast food), home health aides, nursing aides, orderlies and attendants, general and operations managers. Note than none of this projected employment growth will contribute one nickel toward producing goods and services that could be exported to help close the massive US trade deficit. Note, also, that few of these jobs classifications require a college education.

Among the fastest growing occupations (in terms of rate of growth), seven of the ten are in health care and social assistance. The three remaining fields are: network systems and data analysis with 126,000 jobs projected or 12,600 per year; computer software engineering applications with 222,000 jobs projected or 22,200 per year, and computer software engineering systems software with 146,000 jobs projected or 14,600 per year.

Assuming these projections are realized, how many of the computer engineering and network systems jobs will go to Americans? Not many, considering the 65,000 H-1B visas each year (650,000 over the decade) and the loss during the past five years of 761,000 jobs in the information sector and computer systems design and related.

Judging from its ten-year jobs projections, the US Department of Labor does not expect to see any significant high-tech job growth in the US. The knowledge jobs are being outsourced even more rapidly than the manufacturing jobs were. The so-called "new economy" was just another hoax perpetrated on the American people.

If offshore jobs outsourcing is good for US employment, why won't the US Department of Commerce release the 200-page, $335,000 study of the impact of the offshoring of US high-tech jobs? Republican political appointees reduced the 200-page report to 12 pages of public relations hype and refuse to allow the Technology Administration experts who wrote the report to testify before Congress.

Democrats on the House Science Committee are unable to pry the study out of the hands of Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez. Obviously, the facts don't fit the Bush regime's globalization hype.

The only thing America has left is finance, and now that is moving abroad. On February 22 CNNMoney.com reported that America's large financial institutions are moving "large portions of their investment banking operations abroad." No longer limited to back-office work, offshoring is now killing American jobs in research and analytic operations, foreign exchange trades and highly complicated credit derivatives contracts. Deal-making responsibility itself may eventually move abroad.

Deloitte Touche says that the financial services industry will move 20 percent of its total costs base offshore by the end of 2010. As the costs are lower in India, that will represent more than 20 percent of the business. A job on Wall St is a declining option for bright young persons with high stress tolerance.

The BLS payroll data that we have been examining tracks employment by industry classification. This is not the same thing as occupational classification. For example, companies in almost every industry and area of business employ people in computer-related occupations. A recent study from the Association for Computing Machinery claims: "Despite all the publicity in the United States about jobs being lost to India and China, the size of the IT employment market in the United States today is higher than it was at the height of the dot.com boom. Information technology appears as though it will be a growth area at least for the coming decade."

We can check this claim by turning to the BLS Occupational Employment Statistics. We will look at "computer and mathematical employment" and "architecture and engineering employment."

Computer and mathematical employment includes such fields as "software engineers applications," "software engineers systems software," "computer programers," "network systems and data communications," and "mathematicians." Has this occupation been a source of job growth?

In November of 2000 this occupation employed 2,932,810 people. In November of 2004 (the latest data available), this occupation employed 2,932,790, or 20 people fewer. Employment in this field has been stagnant for the past four years.

During these four years, there have been employment shifts within the various fields of this occupation. For example, employment of computer programmers declined by 134,630, while employment of software engineers applications rose by 65,080, and employment of software engineers systems software rose by 59,600. (These shifts might merely reflect change in job or occupation title from programmer to software engineer.)

These figures do not tell us whether any gain in software engineering jobs went to Americans. According to Professor Norm Matloff, in 2002 there were 463,000 computer-related H-1B visa holders in the US. Similarly, the 134,630 lost computer programming jobs (if not merely a job title change) may have been outsourced offshore to foreign affiliates.

Architecture and engineering employment includes all the architecture and engineering fields except software engineering. The total employment of architects and engineers in the US declined by 120,700 between November 1999 and November 2004. Employment declined by 189,940 between November 2000 and November 2004, and by 103,390 between November 2001 and November 2004.

There are variations among fields. Between November 2000 and November 2004, for example, US employment of electrical engineers fell by 15,280. Employment of computer hardware engineers rose by 15,990 (possibly these are job title reclassifications). Overall, however, over 100,000 engineering jobs were lost. We do not know how many of the lost jobs were outsourced offshore to foreign affiliates or how many of any increase in computer hardware jobs went to foreign holders of H-1B or L-1 visas.

Clearly, engineering and computer-related employment in the US has not been growing, whether measured by industry or by occupation. Moreover, with a half million or more foreigners in the US on work visas, the overall employment numbers do not represent employment of Americans. Perhaps what corporations and "studies" mean when they claim offshore outsourcing increases US employment is that the contacts companies make abroad allow them to bring in more foreigners on work visas to displace their American employees.

American employees have been abandoned by American corporations and by their representatives in Congress. America remains a land of opportunity--but for foreigners--not for the native born. A country whose work force is concentrated in domestic nontradable services has no need for scientists and engineers and no need for universities. Even the projected jobs in nursing and school teachers can be filled by foreigners on H-1B visas.

In the US the myth has been firmly established that the jobs that the US is outsourcing offshore are being replaced with better jobs. There is no sign of these jobs in the payroll jobs data or in the occupational statistics. Myself and others have pointed out that when a country loses entry level jobs, it has no one to promote to senior level jobs. We have also pointed out that when manufacturing leaves, so does engineering, design, research and development, and innovation itself.

On February 16 the New York Times reported on a new study presented to the National Academies that concludes that outsourcing is climbing the skills ladder. A survey of 200 multinational corporations representing 15 industries in the US and Europe found that 38 percent planned to change substantially the worldwide distribution of their research and development work, sending it to India and China. According to the New York Times, "More companies in the survey said they planned to decrease research and development employment in the United States and Europe than planned to increase employment."

The study and discussion it provoked came to untenable remedies. Many believe that a primary reason for the shift of R&D to India and China is the erosion of scientific prowess in the US due to lack of math and science proficiency of American students and their reluctance to pursue careers in science and engineering. This belief begs the question why students would chase after careers that are being outsourced abroad.

The main author of the study, Georgia Tech professor Marie Thursby, believes that American science and engineering depend on having "an environment that fosters the development of a high-quality work force and productive collaboration between corporations and universities." The Dean of Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, thinks the answer is to recruit the top people in China and India and bring them to Berkeley. No one seems to understand that research, development, design, and innovation take place in countries where things are made. The loss of manufacturing means ultimately the loss of engineering and science. The newest plants embody the latest technology. If these plants are abroad, that is where the cutting edge resides.

The United States is the first country in history to destroy the prospects and living standards of its labor force. It is amazing to watch freedom-loving libertarians and free-market economists serve as full time apologists for the dismantling of the ladders of upward mobility that made the America of old an opportunity society.

America has begun a polarization into rich and poor. The resulting political instability and social strife will be terrible.

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.He can be reached at: [e-mail]

***
Help us stop the H-1b increase. Use the following link to email an all ready written protest letter to Congress opposing the H-1b increase. The career you save may be your own.

http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/H1B

[stopoffshoring]

Suit alleges India firm collected employees' tax refunds

Suit alleges India firm collected employees' tax refunds

By Michele Chandler
Mercury News

A citizen of India working in California filed a class action lawsuit Tuesday against his India-based employer, alleging that the company collected tax refunds owed to its non-U.S. citizen workers.

Gopi Vedachalam, who transferred to the Bay Area in 2000 from Bangalore, contends he was instructed to sign over his federal and state tax refund checks to international consultancy firm Tata Consultancy Services. U.S. citizens of the company, however, were not asked to sign over their returns, his lawsuit alleges.

Vedachalam was assigned by Tata Consultancy to work as a project manager at Target in Hayward, where he made $50,000 a year. From 2000 to 2005, the refunds he signed over to Tata Consultancy totaled $25,000, according to the lawsuit filed in San Francisco's federal district court. (The current median house price in Haywood California is $635,000. - jgm)

``As we understand it, that is his money,'' said his lawyer, San Francisco-based Steven Tindall.

An official with Tata Consultancy, which has 9,500 workers in North America, said he had not seen the lawsuit.

``To the best of my knowledge, we have not been officially served with the legal papers,'' Tata Consultancy spokesman Mike McCabe said. ``When we are, we will respond appropriately. We take this very seriously.''

If certified as a class action case, the suit would be one of the first filed against a company engaged in bringing non-U.S. citizens to the United States to work in American corporations, Tindall said. Vedachalam, 37, received an L-1 visa, which permits foreign companies to transfer workers to their U.S. subsidiaries, Tindall said. Vedachalam still works for Tata Consultancy; since 2003, he's been a project manager for 21st Century Insurance in southern California.

A leading global technology services organization, Tata Consultancy dispatches professionals, mainly engineers, to work on a contract basis with U.S. firms including IBM and Microsoft, Tindall said. On Monday, Tata Consultancy announced it had entered into a five-year research and development collaboration with Stanford University to work on joint projects focused on data privacy.

While the exact number of non-U.S. citizens working in California affected by the company's practices is not known, the lawsuit said Tata Consultancy employed hundreds of non-U.S. citizens throughout the state at the end of 2005.

Thousands of current and former Tata Consultancy employees are believed to have been affected by the practices, Tindall said. The lawsuit seeks to represent all non-U.S. citizen employees of Tata Consultancy who worked in the United States between Feb. 14, 2000 and the present.

In a statement, Vedachalam said he tried to recover his tax refund money through Tata Consultancy's internal procedures, ``but I was met with either silence or refusal.''

``I work hard for Tata and the companies I have been assigned to,'' Vedachalam's statement said. ``I should receive the full wages Tata agreed to pay me, as should all other Tata employees in America.''

Most of the company's workers stationed in the United States are non-U.S. citizens. It's a common practice in the technology industry, including among American-owned firms, to bring technology professionals from India and other countries to the United States, Tata Consultancy's McCabe said.

Tata Consultancy also kept non-U.S. employees from being paid for vacation time they did not use and could not roll over to the following year, according to the lawsuit. While all Tata Consultancy workers in the United States received 15 vacation days and could carry over five unused days to the next year, U.S citizens could get cash for any unused days, but non-citizens had to forfeit that pay, the suit said.

Only non-U.S. citizens who worked for Tata Consultancy in California from February 2002 through the present are eligible for the suit's broader claim pertaining to lost vacation wages. State law entitles California workers to receive pay for vacation time earned but not taken.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact Michele Chandler at [phone] or [e-mail]

[stopoffshoring]

Report: Firms use H-1B visas to avoid hiring Americans

Report: Firms use H-1B visas to avoid hiring Americans

By Kathy Gurchiek

Employers use the H-1B temporary visa program more often to import cheaper labor than to fill vacancies for which no U.S. workers are available, says a recent report by the nonprofit Center for Immigration Studies.

Not only that, H-1B workers recruited for computer jobs are paid on average $13,000 less per year than Americans working the same job in the same state, it says.

Using fiscal 2004 data from the U.S. Department of Labor, The Bottom of the Pay Scale: Wages for H-1B Computer Programmers focuses on wages for foreign workers in computer programming, because the so-called ?high-tech? nonimmigrant visas historically have been issued to those workers and to workers in the engineering and science fields.

Employers applying for H-1B visas first must make an initial application?a labor condition application (LCA)?that the U.S. Department of Labor must approve. The report compared wages in approved LCAs for H-1B workers on computer programming jobs to wage levels of their U.S. counterparts in the same location and job.

Groups such as the American Council on International Personnel (ACIP), though, say that the report?s methodology and statistics are flawed. The nonprofit Washington, D.C.-based ACIP educates immigration officials on compliance issues.

ACIP Executive Director Lynn Shotwell said of the Center for Immigration Studies report: ?We don?t believe it accurately reflects the wages that are paid H-1B workers,? adding that ACIP has retained an expert to study the report.

She said that in many cases ?the employer lists a wage range on the LCA and so the bottom of the wage has to be the prevailing wage,? but it?s not necessarily what the companies pay the foreign worker, she said.

?They list the range but they pay much higher than that. This report assumes they?re paying at the lowest end,? she said. ?In our discussions with companies that have looked at their actual data, the wages they are paying [are] significantly higher than what?s been reported? by the Center for Immigration Studies.

Proponents of the H-1B program, such as Microsoft titan Bill Gates, say it allows U.S. businesses to remain competitive technologically by giving employers a way to bring in ?the best and brightest.?

?The U.S., if we're going to maintain our position, will always have a reliance on being able to let smart people come to the country,? said Gates, according to a transcript of a panel discussion last year at a Microsoft Research Tech Fair. Gates is an outspoken critic of capping the number of H-1B visas issued annually.

The program, created in 1990 to allow U.S. employers to hire professional-level foreign workers for specialty occupations, has expanded to include engineers, computer scientists, biotechnologists, university professors, marketers and health care professionals.

But the visas, which are good for up to six years, are applicable to any specialty occupation and to fashion models, according to the Center for Immigration Studies report. They have been extended to nurses, teachers, musicians, restaurant hostesses, newspaper reporters and dance instructors.

As for ?high-tech? workers, the percentage has declined. In fiscal 2003 computer positions made up only 28 percent of the jobs held by those with H-1B visas. Those working in engineering constituted 12 percent of visa holders, according to the report.

?Paper-shuffling process??

Under federal law, employers must pay H-1B visa holders the same rate as the employer?s U.S. employees with similar skills and qualifications, or the prevailing wage?whichever is higher. In addition, they must not use foreign workers to displace U.S. workers who are available to fill the same job.

However, many employers use their own salary and wage surveys for entry-level workers, instead of more relevant and objective sources, to justify a lower wage as the prevailing wage when hiring H-1B workers, claims the Center for Immigration Studies report, which called the system under which employers apply for the visas ?nothing more than a paper-shuffling process.?

The findings suggest that ?rather than helping employers meet labor shortages or bring in workers with needed skills, as is often claimed by program users, the H-1B program is instead more often used by employers to import cheap labor,? custom software and consulting professional John Mirano writes in the report.

Also, employers are not required to try to recruit U.S. workers or to show that no U.S. workers are available before looking to H-1B workers, and a loophole in the law allows employers to fire U.S. workers in order to contract out for H-1B workers, the report says.

That process entails an employer sponsoring large numbers of H-1B workers who work in IT or back-office jobs on a contractual basis. They receive a paycheck from the sponsoring employer but work at the contracting company?s site and appear to be an employee of that company.

Companies may sponsor large numbers of H-1B workers who arrive without any job assignment but instead have their names circulated on a list to employers, ?placing them in direct competition with U.S. workers seeking similar jobs,? the report claims.

?Often the contract worker is performing tasks that were once done by a regular U.S. employee,? the center?s report says, noting that employers using more than 100 H-1B workers tend to pay wages that are about $9,000 less per year than those paid by employers using small numbers of H-1B workers.

However, ACIP?s Shotwell said that employers with a mobile workforce will file an LCA every time the worker changes location, so it may appear that more H-1B workers are being hired than is the case.

This would not be the first time that wages of H-1B workers have been called into question.

In November 2005, Michigan-based Computech Inc., which places computer professionals throughout the country, agreed to pay $2.25 million in back wages to 232 computer professionals, agreed to pay a $400,000 fine to settle immigration law allegations, and was prohibited from participating in the H-1B visa program for 18 months, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

The company did not admit to any allegations regarding pay of H-1B visa workers.

Using the H-1B visa program to pay workers substantially less than U.S. workers shows how ineffective the law is in making sure that the prevailing wage is paid to those foreign workers, the Center for Immigration Studies report says.

A few simple changes in federal law?such as retaining the current 65,000 annual cap for visas, monitoring the program more closely, and limiting the number of H-1B visas that an employer can obtain annually based on the number of U.S. employees the company has?can address that problem, the center says.

Legislation pending

Legislation pending in Congress would lower the cap on H-1B visas, require all employers to prove that they are hiring qualified U.S. workers first, and strengthen enforcement and accountability provisions, according to Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-N.J.

Pascrell, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, introduced the Defend the American Dream Act (H.R. 4378) in November.

Among other things, the bill would reduce the authorized number of visas to 65,000 annually; reduce the time that a visa holder could work in the United States; require employers to recruit American workers actively; make copies of labor applications available to the public 30 days ahead of filing; and prohibit contracting out H-1B visa holders.

He said the proposal addresses a ?fundamentally broken program that is tearing down the labor standards American workers have worked so hard to build up.?

But the ACIP, on its web site, says that in general the bill ?would impose greater burdens on H-1B employees by expanding the no-layoff and recruitment attestations to all employers.?

?I don?t have serious concerns? about the H-1B program, Shotwell said. Companies ?take great pains to pay the right wage. I think the protections are in place, and I think this report paints a false picture about how companies use the program.?

Kathy Gurchiek is an associate editor at HR News. She can be reached at [e-mail].

(Save your career! Help fight the H-1b increase. Use the following link to send a protest email to Congress. http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/H1B)

[stopoffshoring]

Report: Firms use H-1B visas to avoid hiring Americans

Report: Firms use H-1B visas to avoid hiring Americans

By Kathy Gurchiek

Employers use the H-1B temporary visa program more often to import cheaper labor than to fill vacancies for which no U.S. workers are available, says a recent report by the nonprofit Center for Immigration Studies.

Not only that, H-1B workers recruited for computer jobs are paid on average $13,000 less per year than Americans working the same job in the same state, it says.

Using fiscal 2004 data from the U.S. Department of Labor, The Bottom of the Pay Scale: Wages for H-1B Computer Programmers focuses on wages for foreign workers in computer programming, because the so-called ?high-tech? nonimmigrant visas historically have been issued to those workers and to workers in the engineering and science fields.

Employers applying for H-1B visas first must make an initial application?a labor condition application (LCA)?that the U.S. Department of Labor must approve. The report compared wages in approved LCAs for H-1B workers on computer programming jobs to wage levels of their U.S. counterparts in the same location and job.

Groups such as the American Council on International Personnel (ACIP), though, say that the report?s methodology and statistics are flawed. The nonprofit Washington, D.C.-based ACIP educates immigration officials on compliance issues.

ACIP Executive Director Lynn Shotwell said of the Center for Immigration Studies report: ?We don?t believe it accurately reflects the wages that are paid H-1B workers,? adding that ACIP has retained an expert to study the report.

She said that in many cases ?the employer lists a wage range on the LCA and so the bottom of the wage has to be the prevailing wage,? but it?s not necessarily what the companies pay the foreign worker, she said.

?They list the range but they pay much higher than that. This report assumes they?re paying at the lowest end,? she said. ?In our discussions with companies that have looked at their actual data, the wages they are paying [are] significantly higher than what?s been reported? by the Center for Immigration Studies.

Proponents of the H-1B program, such as Microsoft titan Bill Gates, say it allows U.S. businesses to remain competitive technologically by giving employers a way to bring in ?the best and brightest.?

?The U.S., if we're going to maintain our position, will always have a reliance on being able to let smart people come to the country,? said Gates, according to a transcript of a panel discussion last year at a Microsoft Research Tech Fair. Gates is an outspoken critic of capping the number of H-1B visas issued annually.

The program, created in 1990 to allow U.S. employers to hire professional-level foreign workers for specialty occupations, has expanded to include engineers, computer scientists, biotechnologists, university professors, marketers and health care professionals.

But the visas, which are good for up to six years, are applicable to any specialty occupation and to fashion models, according to the Center for Immigration Studies report. They have been extended to nurses, teachers, musicians, restaurant hostesses, newspaper reporters and dance instructors.

As for ?high-tech? workers, the percentage has declined. In fiscal 2003 computer positions made up only 28 percent of the jobs held by those with H-1B visas. Those working in engineering constituted 12 percent of visa holders, according to the report.

?Paper-shuffling process??

Under federal law, employers must pay H-1B visa holders the same rate as the employer?s U.S. employees with similar skills and qualifications, or the prevailing wage?whichever is higher. In addition, they must not use foreign workers to displace U.S. workers who are available to fill the same job.

However, many employers use their own salary and wage surveys for entry-level workers, instead of more relevant and objective sources, to justify a lower wage as the prevailing wage when hiring H-1B workers, claims the Center for Immigration Studies report, which called the system under which employers apply for the visas ?nothing more than a paper-shuffling process.?

The findings suggest that ?rather than helping employers meet labor shortages or bring in workers with needed skills, as is often claimed by program users, the H-1B program is instead more often used by employers to import cheap labor,? custom software and consulting professional John Mirano writes in the report.

Also, employers are not required to try to recruit U.S. workers or to show that no U.S. workers are available before looking to H-1B workers, and a loophole in the law allows employers to fire U.S. workers in order to contract out for H-1B workers, the report says.

That process entails an employer sponsoring large numbers of H-1B workers who work in IT or back-office jobs on a contractual basis. They receive a paycheck from the sponsoring employer but work at the contracting company?s site and appear to be an employee of that company.

Companies may sponsor large numbers of H-1B workers who arrive without any job assignment but instead have their names circulated on a list to employers, ?placing them in direct competition with U.S. workers seeking similar jobs,? the report claims.

?Often the contract worker is performing tasks that were once done by a regular U.S. employee,? the center?s report says, noting that employers using more than 100 H-1B workers tend to pay wages that are about $9,000 less per year than those paid by employers using small numbers of H-1B workers.

However, ACIP?s Shotwell said that employers with a mobile workforce will file an LCA every time the worker changes location, so it may appear that more H-1B workers are being hired than is the case.

This would not be the first time that wages of H-1B workers have been called into question.

In November 2005, Michigan-based Computech Inc., which places computer professionals throughout the country, agreed to pay $2.25 million in back wages to 232 computer professionals, agreed to pay a $400,000 fine to settle immigration law allegations, and was prohibited from participating in the H-1B visa program for 18 months, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

The company did not admit to any allegations regarding pay of H-1B visa workers.

Using the H-1B visa program to pay workers substantially less than U.S. workers shows how ineffective the law is in making sure that the prevailing wage is paid to those foreign workers, the Center for Immigration Studies report says.

A few simple changes in federal law?such as retaining the current 65,000 annual cap for visas, monitoring the program more closely, and limiting the number of H-1B visas that an employer can obtain annually based on the number of U.S. employees the company has?can address that problem, the center says.

Legislation pending

Legislation pending in Congress would lower the cap on H-1B visas, require all employers to prove that they are hiring qualified U.S. workers first, and strengthen enforcement and accountability provisions, according to Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-N.J.

Pascrell, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, introduced the Defend the American Dream Act (H.R. 4378) in November.

Among other things, the bill would reduce the authorized number of visas to 65,000 annually; reduce the time that a visa holder could work in the United States; require employers to recruit American workers actively; make copies of labor applications available to the public 30 days ahead of filing; and prohibit contracting out H-1B visa holders.

He said the proposal addresses a ?fundamentally broken program that is tearing down the labor standards American workers have worked so hard to build up.?

But the ACIP, on its web site, says that in general the bill ?would impose greater burdens on H-1B employees by expanding the no-layoff and recruitment attestations to all employers.?

?I don?t have serious concerns? about the H-1B program, Shotwell said. Companies ?take great pains to pay the right wage. I think the protections are in place, and I think this report paints a false picture about how companies use the program.?

Kathy Gurchiek is an associate editor at HR News. She can be reached at [e-mail].

(Save your career! Help fight the H-1b increase. Use the following link to send a protest email to Congress. http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/H1B)

[stopoffshoring]

Temporary manager visas used to circumvent limits

Temporary manager visas used to circumvent limits
By Stephen Dinan
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published February 10, 2006


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One of the country's temporary work visa programs, used particularly by foreign technology workers, is being abused by companies looking to get around protections for American workers, according to a new government report.

The L visa, which is intended for foreign companies who want to transfer managerial employees or workers with "specialized knowledge" temporarily to the United States, has been abused to get around limits on other types of visas, according to the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general.

Congress has capped the number of workers who can come under the H-1B visa category each year at 65,000, but has not placed limits on the L-1 visa, which applies to workers with specialized knowledge. Also, the L visa does not require that workers are paid the "prevailing wage" so that American workers are not displaced.

"Software companies appear to be using the L visa to get around H quotas," one consular post in Southeast Asia told investigators. State Department officials often are called upon to double-check information abroad.

L visas have proven attractive for technology companies -- and particularly firms that outsource labor to India. Nearly 50 percent of the petitions received under the "specialized knowledge" category in fiscal 2005 were for people born in India.

The inspector general found that it is difficult for adjudicators at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to determine what constitutes a manager, particularly because companies vary in size and organization. Adjudicators also have to rely on a company's claims about its own operations, a worker's status at the time of the petition and how a worker will be used in the United States.

In some cases, adjudicators said, applications were prepared by lawyers and "were either too vague, or conversely too technical, for the adjudicator to make appropriate decisions."

Sen. Charles E. Grassley, the Iowa Republican who inserted a provision into a bill to require the study, said it showed "extensive and well-known fraud and abuse in the L visa program."

"When our own consular officers agree that there are problems with the L visa program, something has to be done," he said. "We can't have companies bypass the H-1B visas just to get around protections intended to help American workers."

The inspector general concluded that although the claims about displacing U.S. workers "may have merit," it is not a significant national trend.

Angelica Alfonso, a spokeswoman for USCIS, said the report is accurate in saying L-1 visas are difficult to adjudicate and have "the potential of being exploited to fraud and abuse."

"USCIS has provided additional guidance to minimize such vulnerabilities. In addition, in 2006, USCIS plans to conduct a benefit fraud assessment to determine the nature and extent of fraud in the L-1A non-immigrant classification," she said.

The L-1A category applies to managers and executives.

The inspector general called for USCIS to come up with new ways to make sure overseas checks are made and has given the agency 90 days to respond.

(The following quote floors me; "The inspector general concluded that although the claims about displacing U.S. workers "may have merit," it is not a significant national trend."

An IEEE-USA analysis of BLS data showed that "from 2001 to 2004, while federal immigration officials processed 856,000 H-1B visa applications, national unemployment among high tech managers and professionals increased from 725,000 in 2001 to 1.3 million in 2004. During this same time another IEEE-USA analysis showed a 24% decline in the number of employed computer programmers, 23% in the number of employed electrical engineers, and 18% decline in employed computer scientists.

A rise in unemployment of over 400,000 in one sector is not a "significant national trend"?! How about last year (2005) when over 140,000 high tech workers, according to Challenger, Gray, and Christmas, lost their jobs during a "good" economy? That was up over 118,000 from the year before. I guess that is not a "significant national trend either.

How many American engineers have to lose their jobs before it's a "significant national trend"?

None of this surprises me however since the Department of Homeland Security can't count. In 2004 instead of letting in the 65,000 H-1b workers required by law they let in 76,000 H-1b workers. - stopoffshoring_

(Help stop the H-1b increase. Please use the following link to email Congress an oppostion email. The career you save may be your own. http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/H1B)

[stopoffshoring]

Ok, Fool How about these studies?

As quoted from an article in the Washington Times. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/30/AR2006033001968_pf.html
?Still, the study by Madeline Zavodny, now an economics professor at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Ga., concluded "that unemployment was higher as a result of these H-1B workers."
In a working paper released this week, Harvard University economist George J. Borjas studied the wages of foreigners and native-born Americans with doctorates, concluding that the foreigners lowered the wages of competing workers by 3 to 4 percent. He said he suspected that his conclusion also measured the effects of H-1B visas.
"If there is a demand for engineers and no foreigners to take those jobs, salaries would shoot through the roof and make that very attractive for Americans," Borjas said.?
If H-1bs were making the same salary as American workers then there would not be a depressive effect on American wages. So we have even more proof, as if any were necessary that H-1bs lower American wages and raise American unemployment.

You lose again!!!

[stopoffshoring]

Ok, Fool How about these studies?

As quoted from an article in the Washington Times. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/30/AR2006033001968_pf.html
?Still, the study by Madeline Zavodny, now an economics professor at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Ga., concluded "that unemployment was higher as a result of these H-1B workers."
In a working paper released this week, Harvard University economist George J. Borjas studied the wages of foreigners and native-born Americans with doctorates, concluding that the foreigners lowered the wages of competing workers by 3 to 4 percent. He said he suspected that his conclusion also measured the effects of H-1B visas.
"If there is a demand for engineers and no foreigners to take those jobs, salaries would shoot through the roof and make that very attractive for Americans," Borjas said.?
If H-1bs were making the same salary as American workers then there would not be a depressive effect on American wages. So we have even more proof, as if any were necessary that H-1bs lower American wages and raise American unemployment.

You lose again!!!

[stopoffshoring]

I was told to train my H1-B replacements

Letter: I was told to train my H1-B replacements
H-1B and L-1 Work Visas
Submitted by jgm

EE Times

March 3, 2006

To the Editor,

Re: Engineers' pay will fall and This engineer's pay has already fallen 66 percent.

My salary too has fallen. It fell by 55 percent right after I trained my foreign replacement workers on H-1B and L-1 ?guest worker? visas.

In my department, more than 20 Americans were ordered by corporate management to train our own replacements. Siemens ICN held out a carrot: ?Stay on and train your replacements, then we'll have this severance for you when you leave.?

I spent five months training three Tata India employees. Each learned a different facet of my job. A 55 percent pay cut is not bad considering I was the lucky one; I found another job. Many of my former co-workers weren't so lucky.

You can't beat the corporate money that funds congressional campaigns that create these ?American Worker Replacement Programs?. I strongly suggest American students avoid the technology and engineering fields.


Michael T. Emmons
Florida

[stopoffshoring]

Mickey Mouse (And H-1B ?Temporary? Workers) vs. American Middle Class

January 14, 2005
View From Lodi, CA: Mickey Mouse (And H-1B ?Temporary? Workers) vs. American Middle Class

By Joe Guzzardi

The Walt Disney Company is a microcosm of today?s corporate America: millions paid in salary and bonus for the big boys while the company downsizes by "laying-off" staff.

The remaining employees are squeezed as hard as possible.

Finally, foreign workers are hired on H-1B non-immigrant visas thus shutting out qualified Americans from mid-level management positions.

For the lucky ones at Disney, January started out with a financial bang.

On January 6, Disney announced that Chief Executive Michael Eisner received a $7.35 million cash bonus in 2004.

With his base salary of $1 million and other compensation, Eisner's total pay package was $8.3 million.

Disney President and Chief Operating Officer Robert Iger also got a healthy $6.5 million cash bonus. Added to his annual salary of $1.5 million and other payouts, Iger?s aggregate 2004 compensation was $12 million.

According to the Disney compensation committee, Eisner and Iger?s bonuses were a reward for the company?s 72% earnings increase during 2004.

While these sums are nothing to sneeze at, even bigger stakes are on the table this week during on going talks between Miramax co-founders Harvey and Bob Weinstein and Miramax?s parent company, Disney.

Ten years ago, Disney bought Miramax from the Weinsteins for $80 million. Today, with their corporate divorce pending, Disney is prepared to buy out the Weinstein?s contract for $100 million.

Also, the trial between former Disney president Michael Ovitz and Disney shareholders enters its final phase this week. Ovitz contends that his $140 million severance package, after only 15 months at Disney, is justified.

In fact, Ovitz?s lawyer Larry R. Feldman contends that had Disney directors denied payment on the basis of "gross negligence" or "malfeasance", the company might have been forced to pay out additional "hundreds of millions of dollars" in damages for fraud, defamation and breach of contract.

With millions either already handed out or pending for the Disney upper echelon, let?s see how far down the line that corporate largess extends.

Last month the Orlando Sentinel reported in its story titled "For Many Disney Jobs, the Future is Part Time," (by Sean Mussenden), that Walt Disney World is determined to continue expanding its part-time labor force at the expense of full-time employees.

In the past decade, in what reporter Sean Mussenden calls part of a "national trend toward temporary work," the number of part-time employees at the Disney hotels and theme parks has grown ten times as fast as full-time employees.

Since 1994, Disney has added 9,400 part-time employees?and increase of 140%. Full-time staff over the last decade increased by only 5,000 employees or 15%.

Disney, who promised Wall Street that it would control increases in labor costs to maximize profits at its parks and resorts division, vigorously defends its switch to part-time employees.

Although Disney World Senior Vice President Jerry Montgomery admits that full-time workers "cost more than part-time workers, " President Al Weis claims that the bulk of Disney?s part-time workers are students or others who do not want full-time jobs.

And Weis further claims that Disney has no need to provide health insurance or other similar benefits to its part-time staff because they are either students covered by their parents? insurance or adults covered by their spouses? plans.

On an Internet website devoted to Disney issues, "The Disney Blog, ?this comment was posted regarding Disney?s part-time future:

"It saves the company money on OT pay, health care costs and other benefits. But will it cost the company in the long run as the quality of its workers could be affected by turnover and lack of commitment to the usually high Disney standards.

This is not just something Disney is doing. It's a national trend as well. A few years ago there was talk about how the USA would become a leisure society with workweeks of 32-35 hours a week. I don't think anyone expected those jobs to be on the low end of the pay scale, however."

Disney, like other multinational giants, has added to its domestic middle management team through extensive use of H-1B visas.

According to a database maintained by www.zazona.com, Disney and its divisions have 36 H-1B employees earning from $36,000 annually for a trade analyst to $150,000 for a Vice President of the Glendale Disney store.

The average salary for the Disney H-1B employees is $85,000

Studying the Disney pattern of wages and hiring practices is sobering.

But it explains how in America the rich get richer, the poor stay poor and the middle class is slowly but steadily vanishing.

Joe Guzzardi [ email him], an instructor in English at the Lodi Adult School, has been writing a weekly column since 1988. It currently appears in the Lodi News-Sentinel.

[stopoffshoring]

Mickey Mouse (And H-1B ?Temporary? Workers) vs. American Middle Class

January 14, 2005
View From Lodi, CA: Mickey Mouse (And H-1B ?Temporary? Workers) vs. American Middle Class

By Joe Guzzardi

The Walt Disney Company is a microcosm of today?s corporate America: millions paid in salary and bonus for the big boys while the company downsizes by "laying-off" staff.

The remaining employees are squeezed as hard as possible.

Finally, foreign workers are hired on H-1B non-immigrant visas thus shutting out qualified Americans from mid-level management positions.

For the lucky ones at Disney, January started out with a financial bang.

On January 6, Disney announced that Chief Executive Michael Eisner received a $7.35 million cash bonus in 2004.

With his base salary of $1 million and other compensation, Eisner's total pay package was $8.3 million.

Disney President and Chief Operating Officer Robert Iger also got a healthy $6.5 million cash bonus. Added to his annual salary of $1.5 million and other payouts, Iger?s aggregate 2004 compensation was $12 million.

According to the Disney compensation committee, Eisner and Iger?s bonuses were a reward for the company?s 72% earnings increase during 2004.

While these sums are nothing to sneeze at, even bigger stakes are on the table this week during on going talks between Miramax co-founders Harvey and Bob Weinstein and Miramax?s parent company, Disney.

Ten years ago, Disney bought Miramax from the Weinsteins for $80 million. Today, with their corporate divorce pending, Disney is prepared to buy out the Weinstein?s contract for $100 million.

Also, the trial between former Disney president Michael Ovitz and Disney shareholders enters its final phase this week. Ovitz contends that his $140 million severance package, after only 15 months at Disney, is justified.

In fact, Ovitz?s lawyer Larry R. Feldman contends that had Disney directors denied payment on the basis of "gross negligence" or "malfeasance", the company might have been forced to pay out additional "hundreds of millions of dollars" in damages for fraud, defamation and breach of contract.

With millions either already handed out or pending for the Disney upper echelon, let?s see how far down the line that corporate largess extends.

Last month the Orlando Sentinel reported in its story titled "For Many Disney Jobs, the Future is Part Time," (by Sean Mussenden), that Walt Disney World is determined to continue expanding its part-time labor force at the expense of full-time employees.

In the past decade, in what reporter Sean Mussenden calls part of a "national trend toward temporary work," the number of part-time employees at the Disney hotels and theme parks has grown ten times as fast as full-time employees.

Since 1994, Disney has added 9,400 part-time employees?and increase of 140%. Full-time staff over the last decade increased by only 5,000 employees or 15%.

Disney, who promised Wall Street that it would control increases in labor costs to maximize profits at its parks and resorts division, vigorously defends its switch to part-time employees.

Although Disney World Senior Vice President Jerry Montgomery admits that full-time workers "cost more than part-time workers, " President Al Weis claims that the bulk of Disney?s part-time workers are students or others who do not want full-time jobs.

And Weis further claims that Disney has no need to provide health insurance or other similar benefits to its part-time staff because they are either students covered by their parents? insurance or adults covered by their spouses? plans.

On an Internet website devoted to Disney issues, "The Disney Blog, ?this comment was posted regarding Disney?s part-time future:

"It saves the company money on OT pay, health care costs and other benefits. But will it cost the company in the long run as the quality of its workers could be affected by turnover and lack of commitment to the usually high Disney standards.

This is not just something Disney is doing. It's a national trend as well. A few years ago there was talk about how the USA would become a leisure society with workweeks of 32-35 hours a week. I don't think anyone expected those jobs to be on the low end of the pay scale, however."

Disney, like other multinational giants, has added to its domestic middle management team through extensive use of H-1B visas.

According to a database maintained by www.zazona.com, Disney and its divisions have 36 H-1B employees earning from $36,000 annually for a trade analyst to $150,000 for a Vice President of the Glendale Disney store.

The average salary for the Disney H-1B employees is $85,000

Studying the Disney pattern of wages and hiring practices is sobering.

But it explains how in America the rich get richer, the poor stay poor and the middle class is slowly but steadily vanishing.

Joe Guzzardi [ email him], an instructor in English at the Lodi Adult School, has been writing a weekly column since 1988. It currently appears in the Lodi News-Sentinel.

[stopoffshoring]

Look Out Teachers; The H-1B Visa Gang Wants Your Job

View From Lodi, CA: Look Out Teachers; The H-1B Visa Gang Wants Your Job

By Joe Guzzardi

A recent item in the Las Vegas Review-Journal should raise eyebrows among my teaching colleagues and parents with school age children.

In his warm and fuzzy story titled Teachers Arrive From Philippines, Antonio Planas reported that 51 Filipino teachers recruited in February to work for the Clark County School District have completed their 7,000-mile journey. They are headed directly to the classroom. [August 2, 2005]

Clark County is, according to the story, short about 400 teachers district wide.

But tough, unasked questions remain.

Will the new instructors be able to make the transition from teaching in rural communities half way around the world?one described her village as ?rice and coconut farmers??to teaching in the neon lights of urban Las Vegas?

That would be no small feat. Look, for example, at the personal history of Elvira Ocamia as retold by Planas.

Ocamia, who has never been outside the Philippines, is 56-years-old, married for 36 years and the mother of eight children. She will be living either in an apartment or with other Las Vegas Filipinos, but without her husband or children.

Can Ocamia get off a plane and be emotionally prepared to deal with disruptive students in a demanding classroom?

Another teacher, Elmer Potes, admitted that he speaks broken English with a heavy accent. Will his high-school math students, already sufficiently challenged, be able to understand him?

Ken Record, a long time Clark County resident who follows education issues, said

"The way math is taught today, verbal skills are very important."

Most of the recently arrived teachers admit that all they know about Las Vegas is what they have seen on television and on the Internet.

The Filipino teachers are legally in the U.S. on non-immigrant H-1B visas. And that fact begs a bigger question: did Clark County exhaust every opportunity to hire an American before traveling to the other side of the globe?

Rob Sanchez, who tracks non-immigrant visa issues and is the Webmaster for the invaluable www.zazona.com, says school districts fail to look at unemployed local professionals. Many laid off software engineers, for example, have gone back to school to get education degrees.

Wrote Sanchez in his August 3rd newsletter:

?School districts all over the United States are actively recruiting foreign teachers for our schools. In this case, Filipino math and science teachers on H-1B visas have just arrived in Nevada.

I have talked to many engineers and programmers that have been unable to get teaching jobs in math and science, despite the fact that they went back to school to get education degrees. Despite the growing number of desperate unemployed high-tech workers states like Nevada still claim there is a shortage of these types of teachers. This is just another cruel insult to the growing number of highly educated professionals that can't find meaningful work.?

And when Sanchez says that recruitment of foreign teachers is going on nationwide, he isn?t kidding.
bullet In 2003, Arizona educators traveled to New Delhi for teachers even though the local Scottsdale Unified School District cut 175 jobs during the same period. [Teachers Recruited from India, Pat Kossan, Arizona Republic, March 22, 2003]

bullet In June 2004, the New York Department of Education, crying ?shortage,? added 200 additional teachers from Jamaica to its staff. The state offered two additional bonuses: free legal advice so that they could convert their visas into permanent residency status and free temporary housing.

bullet In September 2001, Cleveland hired 50 math and special education teachers from India. This year 500 pink slips are being sent out in what the Cleveland Plain-Dealer describes as

?The first wave in what will be deep staff cuts in the school district.?

[Nearly 500 Teachers Will Be Cut, Janet Okoben and Ebony Reed, April 23, 2005]

At the beginning of my column I warned that teachers should be leery of the trend to hire H-1Bs.

Conservative estimates put the number of teachers with non-immigrant visas at about 15,000?and growing.

If you wonder why the attraction to H-1Bs is so strong, read the 2004 National Education Association report Trends in Foreign Teacher Recruitment.
From the NEA report:

??Some foreign teachers receive lower pay than comparable teachers in their schools.?

And:

??Some school districts pay their nonimmigrant employees as new teachers, regardless of their experience and qualifications.?

And to the parents, I urge you not to settle for anything less than the best for your child. In today?s job environment, your kid needs the best possible academic foundation. With nearly 14 million unemployed or under-employed Americans, the chances are great that someone in your community with professional experience and impressive academic credentials would jump at the chance to teach. School administrators should forget about traveling around the world to sign up teachers simply because they will work for less. Instead, to ensure a quality education for our children, they must find good teachers locally and pay them well.

Joe Guzzardi [email him], an instructor in English at the Lodi Adult School, has been writing a weekly column since 1988. It currently appears in the Lodi News-Sentinel.