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Are American Engineers in Short Supply?
You've hit the key points on why Americans haven't organized in the past. But, I'm less pessimistic about the future, because everyone has their limits. People are beginning to see the problems first-hand. Those in blue-collar manufacturing jobs saw it first and everyone else chose to ignore it. Those in engineering, particularly Software/IT saw it next and everyone else chose to ignore it. Now all white-collar jobs are being affected and I think it's only a matter of time before everyone starts to see and question the direction that we've gone. Once Americans see it, they will realize that lobby groups such as "CompeteAmerica.org" are tools of the elites designed to squeeze them into a downward spiraling living standard, all while enriching the top 1-2%. I certainly never saw it when it targeted blue collar workers. I live a comfortable life and my future is relatively secure, but I also see that many of the opportunities that I had early in my career are not available to those who are starting out now. If I see it now and am willing to do something about it, then there must be others. The only solution is protectionism really. This doesn't mean being xenophobic or anti-immigration as I think we should always encourage the true best and the brightest. But it does mean applying tax pressure on large multinationals. If they want to sell to Americans then they need to employ Americans at non-slave wages. The only way we can drive the tax issue is by pressuring Government by using our massive voting advantage.— April 4, 2011 11:43 a.m.
Are American Engineers in Short Supply?
Exactly. It's a race to the bottom. One that America can't possibly win because our cost of living (food, housing, etc.) is too high compared to developing countries. I have American friends who tell me that it will eventually "average out", but this is wishful thinking that doesn't account for the huge and growing population imbalance between the U.S and developing countries such as India. By comparison, my Indian friends who have been here for awhile are very apprehensive of the future, because they have seen the population explosion in India and know what this bodes for the U.S. The yahoo link that I posted has a few excellent paragraphs that describe the race to the bottom phenomenon: "GIANT SUCKING SOUND - The reality is that no matter how smart, how strong, how educated or how hard working American workers are, they just cannot compete with people who are desperate to put in 10 to 12 hour days at less than a dollar an hour on the other side of the world. After all, what corporation in their right mind is going to pay an American worker 10 times more (plus benefits) to do the same job? The world is fundamentally changing. Wealth and power are rapidly becoming concentrated at the top and the big global corporations are making massive amounts of money. Meanwhile, the American middle class is being systematically wiped out of existence as U.S. workers are slowly being merged into the new "global" labor pool. What do most Americans have to offer in the marketplace other than their labor? Not much. The truth is that most Americans are absolutely dependent on someone else giving them a job. But today, U.S. workers are "less attractive" than ever. Compared to the rest of the world, American workers are extremely expensive, and the government keeps passing more rules and regulations seemingly on a monthly basis that makes it even more difficult to conduct business in the United States. So corporations are moving operations out of the U.S. at breathtaking speed. Since the U.S. government does not penalize them for doing so, there really is no incentive for them to stay."— April 4, 2011 10:30 a.m.
Are American Engineers in Short Supply?
I believe it was QcomGeek, the hiring manager from Qualcomm who said that the Mindlance Indian recruitment ad that I posted from 2008 was just an isolated case. Below is a currently running ad recruiting from India from the same Surya Patel, the Mindlance recruiter from the 2008 link. This shows that the same pipeline that funnels SW engineers from India to San Diego as a C2H (contract to hire) continues unabated as it has for years. (. http://kcsindia.net/can/regn/home-page/gen-canjob… .) Again, Qualcomm is not unique in this practice. The hundreds of engineers that they import each year is matched by many other companies and universities across the country. The result is a flood of skilled labor that numbers in the hundreds of thousands every year. This flood continued unabated even when the country was in the depths of recession in 2009, and continues unabated today. This isn't job creation, it's not innovation, it's a deliberate and concerted effort by wealthy industrialists to reduce their labor costs by hammering middle and upper-middle class Americans via the H-1B Visa. These CEOs and Industrialists are conspiring through their extensive lobbying and support of what are essentially anti-American organizations such as CompeteAmerica.org We do have a tool at our disposal though. We outnumber the CEO's, Hedgefund managers, Industrialists and Wall Street Bankers by tens of thousands to one. Organize and let your Representatives know that crushing 98% of Americans in order to enrich the few is not okay. What made America great was a vibrant middle class and a high quality of life, both of which are in grave danger, unless we act soon. This isn't wild speculation, but supported by all available facts. (. http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/the-u.s.-mid… .)— April 3, 2011 10:52 p.m.
Are American Engineers in Short Supply?
Turns out that some of this has been publicly posted by Qualcomm. In 2008, Qualcomm's Sr. director of Global Staffing gave a presentation at UCLA called "The future of H-1B Hiring". In it he said that an astounding 71% of Qualcomm's foreign workforce are H-1Bs and of those, 71% are also Indian. He went on to say that over the previous 3 years, year-over-year employment of foreign workers was increasing by an average of 4.7%. Here is a link to the seminar where this was presented: (. http://migration.ucdavis.edu/wcpsew/more.php?id=4… .) Here is the presentation given by Mr. Foster. (. http://migration.ucdavis.edu/wcpsew/files/qualcom… .) Doing the math that works out to an astounding 42% of their entire staff working via(and being retained by) H-1B visas. In total, this represents roughly 7,000 jobs in San Diego that were lost to American workers. This is the sort of "Job Creation" promised by Dan Sullivan, Qualcomm's SVP of HR, to Congress and the American people when he testified before Congress back in 1998. It's also the type of "Job Creation" currently being pushed by the CEO tech lobby through their mouthpiece organizations such as "CompeteAmerica.org". What is even more of a tragedy is that some of these jobs weren't even offered to Americans. The mindlance job shop ad that I posted earlier, shows how relatively inexperienced Indian SW engineers are quietly recruited and shuffled directly from India to San Diego for training. All while the CEO of Qualcomm, Paul Jacobs claims in the 2008 wired interview, that the company "does not seek out foreign workers". Perhaps the most ominous highlight from Mr. Foster's H-1B presentation at UCLA was that Qualcomm was targeting US Immigration Laws as part of it's "Future of H-1B Hiring". These are all of the reasons why EVERY worker in America, whether American born, Green Card holder, H-1B holder or other should be worried for their future. The same corporate greed that drives companies to import low cost labor will only continue and create steady downward pressures on every workers standard of living. This isn't a racial issue, it's not an anti-immigrant issue, it's not a "best and the brightest" issue. It's an issue where powerful corporate influences have targeted the standard of living enjoyed by skilled labor in the United States. Now that their wheels are in motion, the pressure will never stop, unless every skilled worker sees the problem and demands a change. Qualcomm is by no means an isolated case, the inherent bias against hiring domestic workers is happening by the tens of thousands every year in this country and why workers should be concerned and why they should make their displeasure known to their State Senators and their Congressional Representatives. For those who want more information, check out Bright Future Jobs, NumbersUSA, Programmer’s Guild, and the American Engineering Association.— March 31, 2011 11:36 a.m.
Are American Engineers in Short Supply?
"My point was at point of time there has been not more than 5% H1B in Qualcomm." Once again QcomGeek, you are being shown to be sadly misinformed. In 2008, Qualcomm's Sr. director of Global Staffing gave a presentation at UCLA called "The future of H-1B Hiring". In it he said that an astounding 70% of Qualcomm's foreign workforce are H-1Bs and of those, 70% are Indian. Here is a link to the seminar where this was presented: (. http://migration.ucdavis.edu/wcpsew/more.php?id=4… .) Here is the presentation given by Mr. Foster. (. http://migration.ucdavis.edu/wcpsew/files/qualcom… .) If you do the math - Paul Jacobs said in 2008 that 60% of his workforce was comprised of foreigners and according to Mr. Foster, 70% of those are on H-1Bs. So that gives us a figure of 42% of the entire workforce working via a H-1B. If we take a rough guestimate of 12,000 as the total Qualcomm workforce in 2008, that works out to an astounding 5,000 total people working for the company on a H-1B.— March 31, 2011 10:27 a.m.
Are American Engineers in Short Supply?
I completely agree. Unfortunately Obama has been a disappointment, but still better than the alternative of a GOP President. All in all, I think that German companies are actually better off than American companies, because they have been successful at exporting products. Far from being an export powerhouse like Germany, the US produces only 70% of what it consumes. This despite the fact that German labor costs are higher because they don't import cheap labor. It's interesting to point out that Dan Sullivan's testimony pointed to the need to hire H-1B workers in order to compete against other multinationals and monopolies such as Samsung. These companies are also known to treat their employees terribly. Rather than trying to promote monopolies in the US, the Government should be trying to break up American monopolies because it's the smaller and hungrier start-ups that drive innovation and over the long run will allow us to out innovate competitors. For example, allowing a company such as Microsoft to import cheap labor on a massive scale may be good for the short term bottom dollar of Microsoft, but over the long run the company is going to wither anyway and the country as a whole is hurt in the process. In fact, over the long run, Microsoft would be better served if it were broken up into sub companies which focus on key strengths. Qualcomm isn't a Microsoft yet, but it's well on its way.— March 30, 2011 11:08 a.m.
Are American Engineers in Short Supply?
Whatever term that is used to describe the process of retaining employees by utilizing the H-1B system isn't really important. The fact that retention is a part of the H-1B process (as admitted by Qualcomm) is important, because it creates an inequity that will cause an employer to favor a foreign worker over an American or Green Card holder. Why? Compensation packages for High Tech employees have long utilized "handcuffs" which usually translate to stock options which are designed to keep employees from moving to a different company. Stock options typically vest over a 4-5 year period, so as stock is vested and the handcuffs become "worn", they need to be "polished" with grants for new options. This is an expensive process for corporations, but in years past was required in order to keep the best employees. The beauty of exploiting H-1B labor on a massive scale as companies are doing now is: 1) Recipients of H-1Bs are already handcuffed if they want to get a Green Card and this handcuff comes courtesy of Uncle Sam with no expense to the company and 2) If enough labor is brought in and the job market is impacted severely, then the odds of people leaving is lessened as workers are happy just to have a job. The corporate tech lobby is actively working towards making 2) above a reality and the current job market is reflecting that trend. But the insidious downside is that there will never be an end to the immigration onslaught, because companies will always view any wages as too much. That's why people who are current H-1B users need to be just as concerned as American born workers. The standard of living that they currently take for granted will not continue, just as the standard of living for prior High Tech workers has not continued... Most people in their 30s with only 5 or so years of industry experience, do not see this trend. But ask anyone in their 40s and nearly everyone will tell you that they see it.— March 29, 2011 12:46 p.m.
Are American Engineers in Short Supply?
Exactly. HR exists only to discourage lawsuits and ensure that the lawsuits that do get by are unsuccessful.— March 29, 2011 12:19 p.m.
Are American Engineers in Short Supply?
It's also worth taking a look at some of the preposterous statements made by Dan Sullivan in his 1998 testimony. "QUALCOMM currently employs 476 H-1B workers, and a total of 572 workers on visas of all types. These workers, rather than taking jobs from American labor pools, ARE CREATING MORE JOBS FOR U.S. WORKERS through the application of their specialized skills. " After successfully lobbying Congress to raise the H-1B cap, Qualcomm went on a H-1B hiring tear that resulted in their American workforce declining from 94.5% to 40%, while simultaneously going from 476 H-1B Visas to 6,200 in only 10 years. This is the sort of "JOB CREATION" that the CEO tech lobby and Wall Street propaganda machines like "CompeteAmerica.org" are promising. It's easy to see why many people feel that the abuses of Wall Street have created such inequities that class warfare is the inevitable outcome.— March 29, 2011 10 a.m.
Are American Engineers in Short Supply?
One of the reasons given for the move to Chicago was to distance the executives from the staff and the families of staff. So that "business decisions could be done more dispassionately". This is a good example where American-style capitalism has failed. Particularly so when compared to German and Japanese style capitalism, where management uses a more holistic and consensus driven approach to management and decision making. By comparison to Japan and Germany, US Executives are given much more control of the company direction and allowed to take big gambles. Gambles that can make or break the company. Over time though, it's not repeated gambling that ensure success, but rather the companies that make better widgets and out execute the next guy. Had Boeing heeded the advice of employees in the case of the 787, they would have ended up with an Extra $6B-$7B in the bank and more importantly, would have been able to capitalize on Airbus's misfortunes and taken some market share away from their chief rival.— March 29, 2011 9:36 a.m.