H1-B questions hit EDN readers' hot button
Our online career-oriented survey revealed engineers' strong feelings on outsourcing, education, and the profession most would still choose if they had it to do all over again.
By Maury Wright, Editorial Director -- EDN, October 18, 2007
A couple of times this year, I’ve highlighted research that EDN has conducted on the market or on engineers. We have more such material coming your way with a global engineering-salary-and-career survey that we will present next month. In the meantime, we conducted a one-day career-oriented survey on our Web site on Sept 26, and this column highlights a few of the results from that survey. In particular, the subject of H1-B visas drew a number of interesting responses.
I thought that we had carefully considered what we would ask about H1-B visas, though your response indicated that we had failed. We settled on two questions. First, we asked, “Do you believe the government should expand the number of H1-B visas?” Second, we asked respondents to choose among three responses that best summed up their feelings and experiences with H1-B visas. The choices were: “I am working on an H1-B visa, and it has been a fantastic opportunity”; “I believe that we are short on qualified engineers in the United States, and I support the idea of increasing the number of H1-B visas”; and “My career was harmed when I lost an opportunity to another engineer that was a part of the H1-B program.”
First, I want to assure you that we had no ulterior motive with this survey. One reader suggested, “[The second question] is very biased. I believe that we are short on engineers, but expanding the H1-B is not the answer; convincing kids to enter engineering is. You guys must already have written the result and are waiting for the survey to support it.” In fact, EDN as a whole has no position on H1-B visas. As several of you suggested, we should have offered the option on the first question to answer in a way other than “yes” or “no.” And we offered too few choices in the second question.
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For better or for worse, here are the results we gathered. To the yes/no question, 48.9% of you answered that, yes, the government should expand the H1-B offerings, and 51.9% answered no. In response to the second question, the answers came in at 3.5% for those working on an H1-B visa and believing it to be a great opportunity, 58.3% for those who believe that we should increase the number of H1-B visas because the United States is lacking in qualified engineers, and 38.2% who believe their career suffered because of the H1-B program. Keep in mind, though, that many of you couldn’t match your feelings to the answers we offered.
A number of readers indicated that they believe that the United States has an acute shortage of engineers, whereas they call into question the ideals behind and the execution of the H1-B program. One respondent noted, “The H1-B program has many holes. It is like indentured servitude. Many of my colleagues in the past who were H1-B holders were underpaid compared to others in similar positions. They were forced to work long hours and weekends as they were threatened with losing their jobs. If they lost their job, they lost their place in the permanent-residency line.” Another added, “H1-B can be a good resource; however, it appears to be abused by hiring non-US workers at a lower wage in some situations.”
A number of respondents pointed out that we should solve an engineering shortage by encouraging more students to enter the engineering field and by using available talent. One noted, “I believe there is a shortage of qualified engineers, but most companies are not willing to hire laid-off workers. I think there is an unfair bias against these workers. From my wife’s experience, the potential employers that do give an interview are actually stealing ideas from these experienced workers and then not giving them a chance.”
On a positive note, most respondents like their job and want to encourage young engineers. One noted, “I believe there is strong need for informing young students, high-school age to early college, of all the different types of engineering jobs that are available. … Engineering is about solving problems, and we need to educate people on how fun that can be!”
Contact me at mgwright@edn.com.
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Just a little logic will tell you what the H1B program does.
The law of supply and demand applies to labor.
When supply increases or demand decreases the price of a commodity(like labor) goes down. Producers make less, supply decreases and the price reaches a balance. It's a nice feedback system that works well, It's called Capitalism and Free trade.
When Government interferes in the Free market that is socialism or Communism.
The Cheap visa indentured servants who lack the rights of Americans to change jobs, join unions, negotiate salaries, and who are baited with the Carrot of U.S. citizenship and the favorable exchange rate.
More Visas = greater supply of engineers= lower wages = less Americans entering field = lobbying for more cheap labor H1B's.....
Less visas = increased wages for engineers = Americans entering field = Less visas needed.
The companies who whine about the lack of engineers are the same ones who glorify free trade with country's that have lower standards of living, and few if any enforced labor or environmental laws.
Also does anyone know the proportion of male to female visas? I see very few women getting these, shouldn't it be around %50 or is the program biased?
tom Stoll - 2007-16-12 12:03:00 PST -
By allowing non US citizens into US colleges we see dramatic increase in cost of higher education. The same time we allow too many engineers from outside to participate in US job market and see as the salaries flat or even go down in some areas.
This creates dual pressure situation for Americans and it will lead to “Last American born Engineer” working for American economy very soon. Corporations should stop to call global economy as American economy, because building US economy without Americans is nonsense.
US eng - 2007-2-11 14:26:00 PDT -
It's a problem. What is the solution to this problem? One is to improve our system of public education - that is obvious. The second is that we must open our borders to qualified skilled engineers willing to work in this country. We are training them here at our world-class institutions of higher learning, but allow that training to leave when we force them to go. The short-term effect of this is a downward pressure on highly-skilled wages of engineers and scientists. However, what is at stake is the long-term position of the US as an intellectual property powerhouse. If we continue to foster a small elite of highly skilled technical labor, we are preserving our wages in the short-term, but we are sacrificing the long-term viability of American enterprise. Corporations will be forced to leave - relocating to places where they can find a skilled technical force at a lower cost in order to stay competitive - especially considering that their main source of intellectual property, engineers and scientists, would be located elsewhere.
John Weber - 2007-30-10 18:01:00 PDT -
By definition, there is no shortage of engineers in the USA. "Shortage" indicates that the supply is less than the demand, driving up prices until the supply meets the newly reduced demand level. According to the EE Times Salary Survey that I received the same day as the 25 Oct EDN, the salaries of engineers went up at the same rate as inflation. This indicates that today's supply of engineers is EXACTLY equal to today's demand for engineers -- so there is absolutely no shortage.
BTW, there appears to be a shortage of sweet crude oil, because today, 29 Oct 2007, it went up $1.67 a barrel to $93.53 (NY), or 1.78% in ONE DAY. This is about 1/2 of what the raises were for engineers (percentage -wise) for ONE YEAR.
Sorry folks, but until the laws of supply and demand actually start applying to us, you need to stop buying the CEO spin about engineering "shortage."
David Stroup - 2007-29-10 19:08:00 PDT -
The H1B hyperbole will self correct. As the Dollar falls and economies in India, China expand and raise salaries expectations, it will be less profitable for foreign companies to bring labor to USA. In fact in an recent CNBC interview, India's IT companies are actively recruiting in US colleges. BMW is planning to increase production in South Carolina, I guess in anticipation of the falling Dollar. By NOT increasing the H1B, US can essentially force these foreign IT companies to create more jobs locally. But greedy corporate and media executive pimps think about their quick buck they make in immediate future. Nobody is going to walk away from the world's largest consumer market.
RyanB - 2007-23-10 21:55:00 PDT
