Hi AmyJ, regarding this article-
The NSB doesn't know why the U.S. is producing fewer engineering graduates.
Answer: 1. Because there are no jobs for these people when they graduate.
2. Because if they do manage to get a job, engineering as a profession has been cheapened by globalization and wage pressure exists that does not exist in other areas like law, for example.
Someone who recruits at Berkeley told me Cisco was trying to hire new software graduate students last year for $30/hr, no benefits. That equates to about $55K/year. You can make that as a bookkeeper in a small business, there is no need to spend 5 years at Cal for $55K. The reason pay is so low, according to my friend, is that Cisco said they use a factor against their offshore counterparts in Bangalore for the US salaries. She said they have been cut by 40% since 2000.
The Bush administration is launching an all out attack on the engineering profession with their new immigration program. It basically says that Intel or Cisco or any large tech firm can bring offshore engineers to the US **if they can get a job**, and if there are "no US workers available". This is the same excuse they used to try to expand the visa program last year even though US engineering unemployment is at an all time high. It is simply an effort for large firms to induce severe wage deflation. This Bush plan essentially will shut down every engineering school in the country for lack of interest imho.
In times past, when there was a labor shortage the economy handled it differently and smartly, with efficiency. The open source GPL is an example of something that has emerged which means fewer resources are required to develop software. Throwing bodies at a problem hardly ever works. My personal opinion is that the offshore design centers are not delivering, and these tech CEOs are lobbying the special interest controlled white house with ways to get these workers back on US soil, at Bangalore pay, as if all engineering workers are created equal. |
