|
< Previous
Next >
H1Bs Filling the Void?
In 2000, the U.S. Congress doubled the number of H-1B visas to 195,000 and we
imported 90,000 engineers that year. There are presently 34,000 unemployed U.S.
engineers. Proponents of the program point to U.S. colleges only graduating 65,000
engineers in the same year, and that 50% of engineers leave the field within 10
years after graduation. Businesses, it is argued, would move overseas if they could
not import engineers to fill slots. Opponents of the H-1B program blame the companies
for using H1B subjects as a form cheap, controllable indentured servants (H-1Bs
are issued to corporate sponsors - not the workers). They cite the notoriously poor
public education system for not preparing students for the rigors of college. Maybe
the hopeless life of an engineer as portrayed by Dilbert each day in the local comic
strip is contributing to our kids avoiding engineering?
|
"