The need for IT workers

Microsoft suggests that the U.S government let companies, including itself, pay higher fees to bring more foreign workers to the U.S. and government can use the proceeds to educate more U.S engineers to solve the country’s technology workers shortage. The company says the plan could produce $500 million annually to help fund U.S. education in science, technology, education and math (STEM), while helping technology companies by letting them bring in more IT workers from overseas.

Brad Smith, Microsoft’s general counsel wrote: “Ultimately, we cannot expect to build the economy of the future with only the jobs of the past, we must prepare the next generation for the waves of technological innovation” The company released a 30-page whitepaper document titled “National Talent Strategy,” that outlines ideas and solutions to help secure U.S. competitiveness and economic growth.

Even as an unemployment rate is around 8 percent, the U.S. government estimates that there are still 3.7 million jobs in U.S. that goes unfilled. Many of those require STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) skills, but tech companies such as Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Apple, and Oracle all say that they have trouble finding qualified IT workers. Microsoft says it has more than 6,000 open jobs in the U.S. in 2012 but only find a few qualified workers. It is estimated that there are over 90,000 software jobs that cannot find qualified workers in the IT industry. 

The main thing from the document is that Microsoft wants to pair long-term improvements in STEM education in the U.S. with short-term, high-skilled immigration reforms. Microsoft recommends that technology pay $10,000 per worker to bring foreign software workers in under special visas, and $15,000 to pay for their green card applications. This proposal can create an effective national strategy to keep jobs in the U.S. by providing a supply of skilled employees who can fill these jobs here, both now and in the future,” the document reads.

Government studies show that between 2010 and 2020, the U.S. economy will produce more than 125,000 computing jobs per year requiring a bachelor’s degree. Yet currently, the country has just 40,000 technology graduates annually. So how does the country produce more talent? Microsoft wants to bridge the gap with high-skilled immigration reform to help attract the world’s best software workers into the U.S. economy. Microsoft proposes: “There must be a way for the best and the brightest IT workers in the world to participate in growing U.S. businesses, creating new jobs and strengths our economy by allowing them to come and work in the U.S,”.

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Prof. Vu

Carnegie Mellon University

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source: http://www.segvn.org/forum/mvnforum/viewthread_thread,1939