H1B issue dominates in run-up to Prez poll

Wednesday, December 05, 2007 19:53 IST

WASHINGTON: Amid the raging debate over H1B visa, US presidential hopefuls continue to grapple with the hot button issue with a leading Democrat blaming the country's education policy for failing to deliver and speaking out against diverting jobs for which Americans are available.

Former Senator John Edwards agreed with a perception that American workers cannot compete with their counterparts from India because the latter 'are willing to work for less'.

"... the first point is: Why is America not educating and training American workers to do these jobs? I mean, that's the starting point," Edwards said during a debate on National Public Radio.

He was responding to the moderator who pointed out that there are Americans who say that they are being trained for those jobs, but that they can't compete with workers from India, who will work for 10 percent less.

"And that's the reason. If American workers are actually competent to do those jobs, American workers should be doing those jobs. The whole purpose of the H1B visa programme is to bring people from other places who have to do jobs that we don't have American workers to do," Edwards maintained.

"Second, if we don't have adequate American workers -- and this is the other side of the equation, what Bill Gates and others would argue..., that means America's not doing its job of educating our young people," the former lawmaker from North Carolina who was the Democratic Vice Presidential candidate in 2004 said.

But Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Joseph Biden claimed that it was illegal to hire someone on the H1B visa and pay him less than an American.

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1137444

If we want to hire someone on an H1 we have to list the amount they are being paid and this goes to the DOL for comparison to the list of hires in the same job category in the same part of the country, those numbers better add up.

Oh I'm sorry - it's only xenophobia when right wingers don't want Mexicans "taking jobs from 'Murrikans". When it's left wingers not wanting Indians to "take jobs from 'Murrikans" it's entirely valid altruistic concern for economic reasons.

and muddy the water, nothing will change and they too will continue
to sell American Workers down the river.

I am not disparaging the need for education.

Education is not the Issue. Bill Gates does not bring mid level
HI TECH workers here because of great science back ground. All
the HI TECH Companies clamor for these workers with H1-B Visas.

If you pay an American Worker 80,000 dollars yrly and you can
import workers and pay them 45 to 50,000 dollars a year and
the Investors are screaming More Profit- if the Government
permits you are going for the Cheaper Labor.

We could have 100,000 Math and Science Majors . If they have
to earn more, forget it.

Rand , Duke University and Harvard were commissioned to do separate
studies in the US on Availability of Educated Math and Science Workers.
THere is no shortage of Math and Science Majors. Two other reputable
Groups also did extensive study.

The Issue is not Education--it is Cheap Labor. H1-B Visa is the
way our good Representatives pay back all those lavish campaign
funs. Sell America down the river.

Study: There Is No Shortage of U.S. Engineers
By Deborah Perelman
April 4, 2007

A commonly heard defense in the arguments that surround U.S. companies that offshore high-tech and engineering jobs is that the U.S. math and science education system is not producing a sufficient number of engineers to fill a corporation's needs.

However, a new study from Duke University calls this argument bunk, stating that there is no shortage of engineers in the United States, and that offshoring is all about cost savings.

This report, entitled "Issues in Science and Technology" and published in the latest National Academy of Sciences magazine further explores the topic of engineering graduation rates of India, China and the United States, the subject of a 2005 Duke study.

In the report, concerns are raised that China is racing ahead of both the United States and India in its ability to perform basic research. It also asserts that the United States is risking losing its global edge by outsourcing critical R&D and India is falling behind by playing politics with education. Meanwhile, it considers China well-positioned for the future.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2111347,00.asp

I want to hear more from our candidates on where they stand on the H1B and outsourcing issues.