yeah thats LR, if you read the msg board you see there are a whole bunch of visa workers posting how much they deserve to stay here etc. LR is a telecom industry publication and people are afraid they are going to be sent home. I don't pay much mind to a survey of LR readers for that reason.
I was talking about the IEEE guys presentation to the commerce committee I wanted you to read. Here are his proposals, I believe they will mostly be adopted (if Bush doesn't get in the way)
The current non-immigrant system that brings in temporary foreign workers with H-1B
(specialty occupations) and L-1 (intra-company transfers) visas has accelerated movement of
work offshore as temporary workers in management positions outsource work to overseas
colleagues, and as temporary workers who have returned home use their knowledge and
connections in the U.S. market to competitively bid for outsourced work. A policy shift away
from reliance on guest workers and towards permanent immigration would help minimize this
problem.
Increasing reliance on high tech temporary workers has had other negative impacts apart from
increased unemployment. Charges of abuse and exploitation of temporary workers are on the
rise. Similarly, there are frequent reports of displaced American engineers and IT workers being
forced to train their L-1 visa replacements as a condition of their severance package. The H-1B
and L-1 visa programs should be reformed to limit these abuses and bring the programs back in
line with Congress’ original intent. Much engineering and information technology work needs to
be done onsite in the U.S., and American workers should have preference over foreign guest
workers.
Additionally, Congress should monitor current World Trade Organization (WTO) General
Agreement on Trade in Services’ (GATS) mode 4, movement of natural persons, negotiations.
Many countries have pushed the U.S. to make it even easier to misuse the H-1B and L-1 visas.
Another possible policy option is to identify appropriate tax and other financial incentives
needed to encourage employers to create and retain more high wage/high value added
manufacturing and service sector jobs by establishing and maintaining more high end research,
design, development and manufacturing facilities in the United States.
Current offshore outsourcing has affected U.S. workers more than larger U.S. companies, so
another appropriate policy response is to provide assistance to employed, underemployed and
dislocated workers in the form of tax incentives to help pay for lifelong learning (continuing
education and training), including tax credits for employers that offer training or retraining in
high demand technical, management and marketing skills; tax-favored savings accounts to help
pay for job and career-related education and training expenses incurred by individual taxpayers;
and possibly even relocation accounts to help workers move from low growth to high growth
labor markets.
And finally, related to national security considerations, Congress may wish to increase
enforcement of “deemed export laws” to reduce the likelihood that mission critical and other
sensitive technologies will be transferred overseas through global outsourcing of scientific and
engineering jobs. |
