Panel Declines to Address Visa Issue
By Carrie Johnson, Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 25, 2000 ; Page E03
Foreign nationals working in the United States keep wages of Americans in the technology industry from rising as quickly as they otherwise might, according to a research panel that examined the nation\'s high-tech workforce.
A new report issued by the National Research Council, which advises the federal government on scientific issues, comes days after President Clinton signed into law a bill that increased the number of H-1B visas, allowing more than 195,000 skilled technology workers, mostly from India and China, to enter the United States this year.
"We feel [the population of foreign workers] is so large that we are totally dependent on it, and it depresses wages," said Alan Merten, chairman of the workforce committee and president of George Mason University. "How much, we don\'t really know."
The visa legislation passed Congress resoundingly, after high-tech companies warned that it was increasingly difficult for them to find qualified workers. But opponents argue that the visas bind foreign employees to companies that pay them low salaries in exchange for the prospect of permanent U.S. residency.
Critics say the program also discourages companies from recruiting and training U.S. workers from minority groups and the ranks of women and older workers.
The committee of 15 scholars, labor economists, and representatives from firms such as Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp. concluded that foreign workers "can make positive contributions" to the American technology sector and that they have helped prevent an economic slowdown. The committee, which was formed at the behest of Congress, declined to specify how many high-tech visas are needed, shying away from what it said is a "fundamentally political" decision.
The committee estimated that U.S. companies employ more than 5 million workers--3.5 percent of the nation\'s total workforce--in high-tech positions such as computer programmers and technical writers. About 255,000 of them are in the country under a visa program for skilled overseas workers, the study said.
The committee\'s report followed a year of investigation and public hearings held at technology hubs around the nation. The group looked broadly at the state of the technology workforce.
The committee, for instance, examined whether age discrimination persists at technology companies but decided there was too little information available to draw conclusions. Workers over age 40 are more likely to lose their jobs than younger employees, the panel reported, but they tend to find new positions within two or three weeks of their younger counterparts. Unlike younger male technical workers, however, men over 40 often are paid less in their new jobs.
Some critics complained that the panel was weighted in industry\'s favor, and they took issue with a recommendation calling for more research into discriminatory practices among technical firms. "That\'s a stalling tactic," said Norman Matloff, a professor at the University of California at Davis. "I just don\'t think there\'s any question that they\'re spinning this the industry way."
That view is vigorously rejected by committee member Peter Saflund.
"There was a lot of healthy debate about what the data meant," said Saflund, associate director of the NorthWest Center for Emerging Technologies, a Washington state group that promotes technical education. "There was also healthy debate about the lack of data."
Helen Wood, an official at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and a member of the committee, said the panel "strove to focus on fact, what is real, what can we verify."
At the same time, Wood said, technology firms and government agencies should think more creatively about recruiting women, minorities and older people.
© 2000 The Washington Post
By Carrie Johnson, Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 25, 2000 ; Page E03
Foreign nationals working in the United States keep wages of Americans in the technology industry from rising as quickly as they otherwise might, according to a research panel that examined the nation\'s high-tech workforce.
A new report issued by the National Research Council, which advises the federal government on scientific issues, comes days after President Clinton signed into law a bill that increased the number of H-1B visas, allowing more than 195,000 skilled technology workers, mostly from India and China, to enter the United States this year.
"We feel [the population of foreign workers] is so large that we are totally dependent on it, and it depresses wages," said Alan Merten, chairman of the workforce committee and president of George Mason University. "How much, we don\'t really know."
The visa legislation passed Congress resoundingly, after high-tech companies warned that it was increasingly difficult for them to find qualified workers. But opponents argue that the visas bind foreign employees to companies that pay them low salaries in exchange for the prospect of permanent U.S. residency.
Critics say the program also discourages companies from recruiting and training U.S. workers from minority groups and the ranks of women and older workers.
The committee of 15 scholars, labor economists, and representatives from firms such as Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp. concluded that foreign workers "can make positive contributions" to the American technology sector and that they have helped prevent an economic slowdown. The committee, which was formed at the behest of Congress, declined to specify how many high-tech visas are needed, shying away from what it said is a "fundamentally political" decision.
The committee estimated that U.S. companies employ more than 5 million workers--3.5 percent of the nation\'s total workforce--in high-tech positions such as computer programmers and technical writers. About 255,000 of them are in the country under a visa program for skilled overseas workers, the study said.
The committee\'s report followed a year of investigation and public hearings held at technology hubs around the nation. The group looked broadly at the state of the technology workforce.
The committee, for instance, examined whether age discrimination persists at technology companies but decided there was too little information available to draw conclusions. Workers over age 40 are more likely to lose their jobs than younger employees, the panel reported, but they tend to find new positions within two or three weeks of their younger counterparts. Unlike younger male technical workers, however, men over 40 often are paid less in their new jobs.
Some critics complained that the panel was weighted in industry\'s favor, and they took issue with a recommendation calling for more research into discriminatory practices among technical firms. "That\'s a stalling tactic," said Norman Matloff, a professor at the University of California at Davis. "I just don\'t think there\'s any question that they\'re spinning this the industry way."
That view is vigorously rejected by committee member Peter Saflund.
"There was a lot of healthy debate about what the data meant," said Saflund, associate director of the NorthWest Center for Emerging Technologies, a Washington state group that promotes technical education. "There was also healthy debate about the lack of data."
Helen Wood, an official at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and a member of the committee, said the panel "strove to focus on fact, what is real, what can we verify."
At the same time, Wood said, technology firms and government agencies should think more creatively about recruiting women, minorities and older people.
© 2000 The Washington Post