IP: Re: HIGH-TECH WORKERS FROM OVERSEAS

[Dave Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

Date: Wed, 21 Feb 1996 00:36:46 -0500
To: Dave Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>
From: crocker () cybercash com (Steve Crocker)


Dave,


The implication of the story is that 75% of the foreign-born engineers
admitted to the U.S. during 1990 to 1994 displaced American citizens in
engineering jobs.  (I've purposely rephrased and added implications that
may not follow absolutely from the facts given, but the intent of the story
is to create exactly the impression I've stated.)


The question that comes to mind is whether the foreign-born engineers are
simply cheaper versions of the Americans, i.e. same training, skill,
productivity, etc. or whether they're significantly better.  Perhaps the
engineers who lost their jobs are, say, older EEs who know a little about
analog circuits and don't have a clue what goes on inside a computer, while
the foreigners are hot shot programmers skilled in C++ or crackerjack
digital circuit designers.  (I'm being deliberately a bit imflammatory to
make the point.)


I suspect the truth is somewhere in the middle: lower wages and different
skills.  Intel is recruiting heavily in India for engineers to come to the
U.S., and the principal reason is lack of comparable talent in sufficient
numbers in the U.S.  U.S. law prohibits paying lower wages, but even if one
discounts that and assumes the wages paid to foreign workers might be
somewhat lower, the cost of importing people is quite high and not a cost
an employer would choose to bear if it weren't necessary.  (The wages paid
to foreign engineers in the U.S. cannot be "Third World wages;" the foreign
engineers aren't that docile or ill-informed and a discrepancy of that
magnitude would invite too easy of a lawsuit.)


As presented, the story seems incomplete and more than likely inaccurate
and biased.


Steve




At 11:04 PM 2/20/96, Dave Farber wrote:
> HIGH-TECH WORKERS FROM OVERSEAS
> There is a growing debate over the recruitment of high-tech expertise from
> abroad.  A division of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics
> Engineers says that more than 146,000 engineers lost their jobs between 1990
> and 1994, a period during which more than 200,000 foreign-born engineers
> were admitted to work in the U.S.  The companies hiring professionals from
> abroad say the practice is necessary in order for them to remain
> competitive, whereas IEEE-USA chair Joel Snyder argues that such employers
> "want a high-tech workforce in the United States that will accept Third
> World wages and working conditions."  Snyder says the trend toward lower
> wages in technical markets will hurt the U.S. educational system, because
> university students will be discouraged from enrolling in engineering and
> programming.  Support for those programs will therefore drop, along with
> program quality.  (Computer Feb 96 p10)


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