Bob,
Bill Clinton and the Democrats are definitely effecting
the economy...unfortunately, not in a positive way!:
Right now the country is desperately short of information technology (IT) workers -- programmers, computer engineers, and systems analysts. Microsoft has eighty full-time recruiters and spends $568 million on training, yet still has 2,500 unfilled positions. Lucent Technologies is short 14,000 computer specialists worldwide. Companies like GE Medical Systems, a division of General Motors, are offering $5,000 bonuses to employees who recruit information workers. Banks and insurance companies, now dependent on computer technology, are faring even worse. Studies in Virginia and San Diego have shown that engineering schools are turning out only one-fourth of the computer specialists industry will need in the next ten years. The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) estimates that 345,000 IT jobs -- 10 percent of the positions in the entire industry -- remain unfilled. "It's like running out of iron ore in the middle of the Industrial Revolution," says Harris Miler, president of the ITAA.
It's a crisis that has been brewing for a long time. In one sense, the technology is simply outrunning humanity. The Information Revolution has descended upon us quickly. It takes time and effort to learn computer skills. The potentialities opened by the digital revolution are so vast and plentiful that, for the time being at least, human brains may be having a hard time keeping up.
That's one charitable explanation. A less benign interpretation is that we are witnessing the long-anticipated collapse of public education. Even as American companies hunt desperately for people with computer skills, American students continue their slide to the bottom of the international math heap. In February, the Third International Mathematics and Science Study showed that American 12th grade students rank only ahead of Cyprus and South Africa among fourteen industrial countries in math skills. Even the brightest American students no longer stand out. In an identical study of eighth-graders in 1996, only 5 percent of American students ranked in the international top 10 percent. The bill for tolerating "rainforest math" and "self-esteem" is coming due.
Because America is not producing enough computer experts, corporate recruiters are searching the globe to fill these positions. Headhunters are scouring fishing villages in Brazil and the steppes of Kyrgyzstan, hoping to meet computer-literate youngsters -- and finding them. Often these people know English only as a programming language.
What we are witnessing is the release of the world's human potential. Julian Simon always argued that the human brain was the ultimate resource and he is proving right. In countries like China and India, the priesthood and the bureaucracy were once the only acceptable role for intelligent young people. Now there is a third possibility -- useful enterprise. India has developed a powerful educational system and is turning out 55,000 computer graduates per year. Bangalore now has the largest concentration of computer programmers in the world. Texas Instruments, Microsoft, Motorola, Intel, and Hewlett Packard have opened facilities there. "If I had a good enough supply of engineers in the United States, I would never have asked a manager of this company to fly to Bombay," says the irascible T.J. Rogers, CEO of Cypress Semiconductor. "At a certain point, you just can't find people at any price in San Jose." Ireland has developed a powerful ring of software companies around Dublin. "It's just like the Beltway," says John J. McDonnell, Jr., CEO of Transaction Network Services, a Reston, Virginia recruiting firm. "And the talent is every bit as good."
Unfortunately, the immigration of skilled professionals to the United States is limited by the H-1B Visa Program, adopted in 1990 to restrict the entrance of foreign doctors. Last year, for the first time ever, all 65,000 H-1B visas were claimed, mostly by computer experts. This year all 65,000 entrance visas are expected to disappear by May. In February, ITAA persuaded Sen. Spencer Abraham (R-Mich.), chairman of the Senate subcommittee on immigration, to hold hearings on the possibility of abolishing the program. (President Clinton, although opposed to abolishing, said he might agree to increasing visas 50 percent.)
Entire article: spectator.org
Regards,
Shawn |
