So, I keep hearing of a lack of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) graduates, but my personal experience--as someone who volunteers to help people write resumes--in the high-tech Seattle/King County keeps telling me it isnt so. Ive helped more than a few people with those kinds of degrees (engineering, or who have technical writing experience, for example), and despite great grades and good internship experience, cant find jobs. I decided to look up any studies and/or analyses about this, and found, among other reports, this from the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers): spectrum.ieee.org/at-work/education/the-stem-crisis-is-a-myth Heres another: washingtonpost/business/economy/study-there-may-not-be-a-shortage-of-american-stem-graduates-after-all/2013/04/24/66099962-acea-11e2-a8b9-2a63d75b5459_story.html To quote: The EPI study found that the United States has “more than a sufficient supply of workers available to work in STEM occupations.” Basic dynamics of supply and demand would dictate that if there were a domestic labor shortage, wages should have risen. Instead, researchers found, they’ve been flat, with many Americans holding STEM degrees unable to enter the field and a sharply higher share of foreign workers taking jobs in the information technology industry. (IT jobs make up 59 percent of the STEM workforce, according to the study.) Regardless of where those stats come from--liberal OR conservative think tank--it keeps coming up that there are fewer jobs than there are graduates. A lot fewer jobs. And there are graduates who are not in the high tech fields they were educated for because they cant find a job in those fields. I remember one of my sons friends who graduated with a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering from from a top engineering school. The kid had great grades and a stellar internship with a prominent engineering firm in Seattle. Unfortunately, he graduated just after the recession hit, and he ended up working in a warehouse hauling boxes because the promised job fell through. Ive heard of more than a few young people to whom this happened. Between personal experience and what Im seeing from different reports, I do not see the need for increased H-1B visas for guest workers...unless youre Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg who would profit from having a surplus of workers so as to depress wages. Keep in mind that companies keep H-1B workers paperwork and visas, they can pay these guest workers less, and they prevent these workers from quitting to take a better job from another employer....kind of like indentured servitude, except it pays better. In addition, H-1B workers earn about 20% less than Americans who do the same job. So theres a real incentive for high-tech companies to say theres a so-called shortage. And yet, the administration is looking to allow spouses of the H-1B workers to get U.S. jobs. This troubles me. Ive lived in foreign countries, and those countries do not let spouses of their guest workers (me, for example) apply for jobs. Im fine with that: I understand those countries want to preserve their jobs for their own citizens. Why are we doing something quite the opposite? Im not opposed to immigrants at all. My mom is one. My grandfather was one. But should we be bringing over immigrants for jobs here when there are Americans who want to and can fill those jobs but cant get one? I have college-educated relatives who work for a large and very well known software company, by the way. Now that Seattles raised the minimum wage, I can now say that they earn minimum wage in a high-tech temp job that requires a college degree.
Posted on: Thu, 05 Jun 2014 00:09:55 +0000
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