[lbo-talk] labor mobility.....

Autoplectic autoplectic at gmail.com
Thu Apr 28 06:01:42 PDT 2005


<http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2002255491_gatesvisa28.html>

Thursday, April 28, 2005, 12:00 a.m. Pacific Gates urges an end to limit on foreign hires By Ted Bridis The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates urged the Bush administration and lawmakers yesterday to abolish immigration limits on foreign engineers who can be hired by U.S. companies, a sensitive subject among U.S. technology workers watching their own jobs increasingly move overseas.

During an infrequent visit to lobby personally for changes in federal policy, the world's richest executive said the government should eliminate the limit of 65,000 for overseas workers who can be hired each year by U.S. firms under specialty H1-B visas aimed at drawing engineers, scientists, architects and doctors to the United States.

"The whole idea of the H1-B visa thing is, don't let too many smart people come into the country," Gates said during an invitation-only panel discussion at the Library of Congress. "The thing basically doesn't make sense."

Responding to a question about policy changes that Gates would make if he were king, Gates said he "probably will get myself in trouble on this one." He endorsed more intensive study of nuclear power, improvements to U.S. schools and higher research spending by government.

"I'd certainly get rid of the H1-B visa cap," Gates added. "That's one of the easiest decisions."

Gates and other leading technology executives have pressed Congress aggressively to let them hire more foreign employees by raising visa limits, but Gates hasn't previously campaigned to abolish the immigration law entirely. Technology executives have argued they are unable to find qualified U.S. workers, a contention disputed by U.S. labor groups and unemployed computer engineers.

"Anybody who's got good computer-science training, they are not out there unemployed," Gates said. "We're just not seeing an available labor pool."

The Commerce Department undersecretary for technology, Phil Bond, cautioned Gates during his talk that unemployment among U.S. computer engineers regularly exceeds unemployment in other industries. "The politics of that are real," Bond said. Government figures showed 5.7 percent of information-technology employees were out of work last year versus 5.5 percent of all workers.

Some labor groups criticized Gates' remarks.

"It's increasingly difficult for U.S.-based programmers to find work," said Marcus Courtney, organizer of Washington Alliance of Technology Workers in Seattle. "There is no support in the American public for completely abolishing the H1-B visa program and allowing companies to import foreign labor for these high-paying jobs."

-- "Reason demands belief in infinitely many contradictions" [Roy Sorenson]



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