Is there really a shortage of high-skill American workers?
One of the primary narratives associated with comprehensive immigration reform has nothing to do with the millions of low-skill workers that would be granted an opportunity to compete against Americans for jobs. As a letter sent to the president and Congressional leaders signed by more than 100 chief executives of major tech companies and trade associations indicates, there is a shortage of highly-skilled American labor that drives reform as well.
Yet as the Atlantic's Michael S. Teitelbaum reveals, that narrative is a lie.
"A compelling body of research is now available, from many leading academic researchers and from respected research organizations such as the National Bureau of Economic Research, the RAND Corporation, and the Urban Institute," Teitelbaum explains.
No one has been able to find any evidence indicating current widespread labor market shortages or hiring difficulties in science and engineering occupations that require bachelors degrees or higher...All have concluded that U.S. higher education produces far more science and engineering graduates annually than there are S&E job openings—the only disagreement is whether it is 100 percent or 200 percent more.
He then introduces the 800-pound gorilla of Economics 101-- the reality that a genuine shortage of high-skill workers would pressure those seeking an ostensible scarcity of talent to offer higher levels of compensation to potential workers.
Unfortunately, exactly the opposite is occurring. "Most studies report that real wages in many—but not all—science and engineering occupations have been flat or slow-growing, and unemployment as high or higher than in many comparably-skilled occupations."
How does this reconcile with the claims of people like Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer?
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I have stated this many times that our country's immigration policy is skewing the wages paid to our workers in the wrong direction while allowing the corporations to make higher profits. Both at the high end of the wage spectrum and the lower end. Look at any construction job site and see how many Hispanics are working there compared to Americans. Go to any big city and check out any fast food place. Both political parties want illegal immigration because that is what corporate America wants.
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