Panel agrees high-skilled immigration reform is needed, but the prospects for change are dim

Source: The Washington Independent

At a panel hosted by the Migration Policy Institute today, participants reflected on the importance of high-skilled immigration to American economic competitiveness. However, much of what was discussed showed how disconnected the policy is from the politics on immigration issues.

Jared Bernstein, senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and former chief economic advisor to Vice President Joe Biden, said that he has traditionally approached the immigration issue from the perspective that “we’re always going to have significant immigrant flows.” At the same time, Bernstein noted that to discuss immigration policy meant starting with the presumption that immigration inflows can be controlled.

The panel’s experts all agreed that immigration policy had to reflect demand — that immigration should increase when jobs for immigrants exist and decrease when they do not. But Bernstein noted that the “optics” of immigration meant that making policy responsive to demand is very difficult.

Many political observers agree that the ongoing high levels of unemployment mean that policymakers and the public are both very unsympathetic to increasing immigration numbers. However, for some specific job markets, unemployment is very low and thus, immigrants working in those fields are still needed.

Read more: http://washingtonindependent.com/110622/panel-agrees-high-skilled-immigration-reform-is-needed-but-the-prospects-for-change-are-dim

Then we have no lack of willing labor able to be trained. Let's get to it and stop displacing our college graduates and denying them the work experience they need to establish their careers.

of course, employers love cheap imported labor.

to appease all of the cheap bloodsuckers and multinational corporations who can't ever ever ever get enough of any global commodity.
Remember the endless propaganda of the forever impending skills "shortage" that never shows up?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_impact_of_immigration_to_Canada

According to Canada's Immigration Program (October 2004), Canada has the highest per capita immigration rate in the world.

The per capita immigration rate to Canada has been relatively constant since the 1950s, and recent years have seen a steady increase in the education and skill level of immigrants to Canada. ... Canada is also unusual among western nations in the widespread popular support for high rates of immigration, and in recent years support for immigration has increased in Canada.

The Canadian system puts great emphasis on finding skilled immigrants .... Immigrants to Canada are more skilled than immigrants to the United States. George J. Borjas compared immigrants to Canada and the United States finding those to Canada being better educated and receiving higher wages once settled. He accredits this to Canada's points based immigration system, and argues for the United States to more closely emulate the Canadian method.

Within the Canadian economy, immigrants are most found at the highest education levels. In Canada, 38% of male workers with a post-graduate degree are immigrants to the country.<22> 23% of Canadians are foreign born, but 49% of doctorate holders and 40% of those with a masters degree were born outside Canada.<23>

One important effect of this steady influx of highly skilled immigrants is the reduction of income inequality in Canada. A steady stream of doctors and engineers into the economy reduces wages for these professions. In the United States immigration patterns are reversed, and income inequality is much higher as a partial result.

The presence within Canada of people representative of many different cultures and nations has also been an important boost to Canada's international trade. Immigrants will often have expertise, linguistic skills, personal connections with their country of origin that can help forge international trade ties. Studies have found that Canada does have greater trade relations with those nations that have provided large numbers of immigrants.<65> Canada's economy is heavily centered on international trade, which accounted for 36% of GDP in 2006.

I think for every special Hib1 visa a company is granted they should be CHARGED 3 x the prevailing wage that goes into a fund to train Americans.

If companies have a shortage of trained people, then TRAIN them.

No, they just want to hire lower paid people who have a skill today. No long term thinking or taking care of their staffs. I cannot tell you how many companies no longer engage in giving on-going training to their staffs, or even granting them the time to get training.

Also, college students do not want to train for hi-tech jobs because it is a wasted investment because they will be outsourced to a low wage country.