<p>An article on the job market for STEM grads:</p>
<p>There is no such thing as a job in STEM. Mixing together the aggregate number of STEM graduates to do this analysis seems bogus to me. A software designer is not interchangeable with a nurse who is not interchangeable with a civil engineer. Hiring folks who need an H1-B is costly and time consuming- believe me, if my company could find people in the US who had the qualifications to do the work we needed doing, we would not need an army of lawyers marshaling the applications through the process.</p>
<p>Although the authors claim they are not anti-immigration- in fact, this sounds very much like an analysis tailor made to “keep them out”. We are likely producing too many kids who major in biology-- which includes lots of people who think they are pre-med but in fact cannot get admitted to a US med school. That has no bearing on the employment needs of a company which needs PhD’s in Mechanical Engineering or Master’s level candidates in statistics and applied mathematics.</p>
<p>But STEM jobs? never seen one. And we STILL have twice as many kids majoring in leisure studies, sports management, and recreation as we do in STEM. What kind of economy is THAT going to produce 20 years hence???</p>
<p>Depressing.</p>
<p>A simple reform to the H-1B program would be to allow companies to sponsor only up to a limited percentage of their employees in eligible job categories on H-1B visas (e.g. 10%, which is somewhat higher than the percentage over all employers). That would keep out the “visa hog” companies that use H-1B visa employees for low end contracting and outsourcing, but leave plenty of visas for those who directly hire talented foreigners (that they now cannot get visas for because the “visa hog” companies grab them all).</p>
<p>Beyond that, mixing all “STEM” employment together in any kind of policy decision makes no sense, as the labor markets for the various fields are different.</p>
<p>I think a better solution to “the H-1B” problem is to up the amount a company must pay to have an H-1B employee. I believe it’s $2000/year/H-1B employee that the company must pay? What if instead it was $30k? That way a company can hire all H-1B employees, but they’ll be paying quite a bit for it. But if that’s the only way they can get the employees they need, it will be worth it. </p>
<p>Someone correct me if I have some apparent misunderstanding here.</p>
<p>Vlad- how does your solution help the problem (which according to these researchers is foreigners crowding out local talent)? Paying more for an H-1B doesn’t create a stampede of Master’s and PhD level engineers at universities…</p>
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<p>I was operating under the assumption that there really are plenty of people in the US to take these jobs but the companies would rather hire foreigners for one reason or another. If it costs more to take foreigners then US workers then there will be less incentive to do so. However, we really do want highly talented people to work in the US, just not the mediocre. Setting a high price for hiring foreigners should hopefully filter out those who are mediocre. Whereas quotas can make it such that we lose the highly talented.</p>
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Not sure if you were serious about this, but the claim is not correct. There are twice as many grads in engineering alone vs. parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies:
[Bachelor’s</a> degrees conferred by degree-granting institutions, by field of study: Selected years, 1970-71 through 2010-11](<a href=“http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d12/tables/dt12_313.asp]Bachelor’s”>Bachelor's degrees conferred by degree-granting institutions, by field of study: Selected years, 1970-71 through 2010-11)</p>
<p>More to the point, this argument is a red herring. If we are talking about the supply/demand balance for STEM graduates, the number of grads in other disciplines is irrelevant.</p>
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<p>Most H-1B visas go to “visa hog” companies that offer low end contract outsourcing services. Normal companies hiring employees directly would prefer a citizen or PR due to less hassle than with an H-1B visa holder (not to mention that the “visa hog” companies have taken all of the H-1B visas anyway).</p>
<p>Keeping the low end contract outsourcing companies out of the H-1B visas would return the H-1B visas to their original purpose.</p>
<p>According to [TCS</a>, Infosys and Wipro abusing H-1B visa system: Senator - Economic Times](<a href=“Business News Today: Read Latest Business news, India Business News Live, Share Market & Economy News | The Economic Times”>Business News Today: Read Latest Business news, India Business News Live, Share Market & Economy News | The Economic Times) , the proposed immigration bill would prohibit the use of H-1B visas by companies with more than 50% non-American employees. This would cut out the outsourcing companies, but could have the side effect of cutting out small startups which just happen to have, at an early stage, mostly non-American employees (e.g. 5 employees, 3 of which are non-American PRs).</p>
<p>[Infosys</a>, Wipro among top H1B visa cos that outsource jobs overseas: report](<a href=“http://www.indiainfoline.com/Markets/News/Infosys-Wipro-among-top-H1B-visa-cos-that-outsource-jobs-overseas-report/5618299225]Infosys”>http://www.indiainfoline.com/Markets/News/Infosys-Wipro-among-top-H1B-visa-cos-that-outsource-jobs-overseas-report/5618299225) lists the top users of H-1B visas. Except for Microsoft, the list appears to be mainly contracting and consulting companies.</p>
<p>As a science educator for 30+ years, I find that the little you know about science education, the more likely you are going to use the acronym “STEM”. If you are working in science, you don’t tend to use that term. As was mentioned earlier, it is ludicrous to lump together medicine, nursing, surveying, engineering, etc., into one tidy group.</p>
<p>STEM is a term used by politicians, state bureaucrats, etc, frankly. Whenever I hear about some “STEM initiative” my first thought usually is “here we go again…”</p>
<p>One size does not fit all.</p>