IP: HIGH-TECH WORKERS FROM OVERSEAS

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

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)