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Copyright
?span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> 2004, West Group LOOKING
TO THE NORTH WHILE PLAYING DOCTOR: SOLVING THE H-1B VISA PROBLEM
BY FOLLOWING CANADA'S LEAD Copyright
?span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> 2001 Minnesota Journal
of Global Trade, Inc.; Sarah Jain
In the late twentieth
century, the United States high technology industry began an explosive
growth spurt that has carried through the turn of the century.
The rapidly evolving state of technology, coupled with the
shortage of skilled American workers, has driven United States
employers to import high technology talent from abroad. Foreign
technology workers most frequently receive authorization to work in the
United States through the H-1B visa program. The United States
government's limited offerings of working visas contribute to the H-1B's
immense popularity. Instead of creating an efficient marketplace,
the complex, protectionist H-1B program stifles the growth of high
technology companies, and in turn, asphyxiates the U.S. economy.
This Note examines the H-1B
visa program as it applies to the information technology (IT) sector of
the United States economy. Part I of this Note provides a survey
of the high technology worker shortage, a background of the H-1B visa
program, and an examination of the program's flaws. Part II outlines the
Canadian program for foreign workers in the IT industry and proposes
adopting certain Canadian policies to facilitate the entry of foreign
workers in the IT sector. I.
AFFIXING THE TOURNIQUET: USING H-1B VISAS TO STEM THE FLOW OF FOREIGN TEMPORARY
WORKERS INTO THE UNITED STATES
During the late 1990s, H-1B
proponent employers in the IT industry complained of a labor shortage,
while H-1B opponents proclaimed the antithesis. Congress, in the middle
of this battle, needed to discern the reality of the labor shortage and
consider the shortcomings of the H-1B visa program before legislating
its most recent remedy, which ameliorates some of the most pressing
problems of the H-1B visa crisis. Unfortunately, pervasive ills persist.
A.
Taking The Economic Pulse: Diagnosing The Reality Of The Information
Technology Labor Shortage And The Actual Need
Compelling evidence exists
supporting the criticism that the current United States visa process is
partially responsible for the shortage of qualified high technology
workers. By all accounts, the American economy reached a strong
crescendo in the late 1990s leaving unemployment at a thirty-year low. Currently,
it takes an average of 12.5 weeks for an unemployed worker to get a job,
down from 13.8 weeks the previous year. More specifically, the IT
industry has been booming. From 1993-98 the economy gained 1.1
million jobs in the high technology industry. A 1997 Bureau of
Labor Statistics study shows phenomenal growth rates of 118% for
computer scientists, 109% for computer engineers, and 103% for systems
analysts. Congress predicts that the United States will need
approximately twenty million workers between 1999 and 2026 to maintain a
growth rate of 2.5%. However, technology-based companies have had
trouble fulfilling their needs for qualified workers, while at the
same time, the number of U.S. citizens who are also highly-skilled
graduates has declined. The hottest new industries, including
microelectronics, Internet technologies and electronic commerce
"require a highly skilled, knowledge-based workforce."
Furthermore, companies in the United States have spent over sixty
billion dollars on formal training for their employees. These
facts lead to the conclusion that the demand for highly skilled
technology workers exceeds its supply under the current immigration
laws.
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