Bill Gates, brilliant billionaire entrepreneur, who has plugged nearly $200 million into promoting the Common Core State Standards because he knows how to run America’s educational system, just did the following:
He co-authored an op-ed in the New York Times calling for more visas for skilled tech workers, while at nearly the same time Microsoft fired some 18,000 people. The lay-off has also affected an unknown number of contract workers.
If there is a tech labor shortage, one would expect to see higher wages used to attract workers. That isn’t what’s happening. Salaries have remained flat. What is happening is that the tech giants want more foreign nationals to take those high tech jobs. Why? Cheap labor.
Sen. Jeff Sessions recently slammed Bill Gates for demanding more guest workers while Microsoft lays off Americans.
Candidate for Governor Scott Smith is another one who believes the big corporation myth about the "high tech labor shortage." He wants to bring in engineers and other high-skilled workers from other countries. See Mesa Mayor Fears Congress Won’t act on Immigration.
As stated in Bill Gates Under Fire for Immigration Stance After Microsoft Lay-offs:
Mr. Gates and other tech industry figure heads have said for years that there is a labor shortage in STEM fields in America, despite high unemployment numbers.
Now Jeff Sessions, a steadfast critic of the Senate immigration bill, is launching a counter attack on Bill Gates ideas, and he’s not alone.
Academics from National Research of Economic Research RAND corporation and others have regarded the idea of a tech labor shortage as a myth, with no true evidence to back up the claims.
According to professors Daniel Kuehn, B. Lindsay Lowell, and Hal Salzman, American colleges turn out more engineers and scientists than the market can employ every year, about 200,000 more. At the same time, many companies in the IT industry fill their rosters with guest workers.
Guestworkers in the High-Skill U.S. Labor Market: An Analysis of Supply, Employment, and Wage Trends provides a detailed analysis of the Supply versus Demand of STEM workers and found that current U.S. immigration policies that facilitate large flows of guestworkers appear to provide firms with access to labor that will be in plentiful supply at wages that are too low to induce a significantly increased supply from the domestic workforce. So, please explain why a U.S. college student would go into debt for $100,000 to get a degree that supposedly prepares him to work in the IT field?
See Also:
Why is Bill Gates asked to defend Common Core Math Standards?
Microsoft cuts 18,000 jobs: It’s the Fourth Biggest at a U.S.-Based Firm
Why Microsoft’s Layoff is Much More Sweeping than the 18,000 Cuts
Bill Gates Under Fire for Immigration Stance After Microsoft Lay-offs
The Bogus High-Tech Worker Shortage: How Guest Workers Lower U.S. Wages