Sun, 19 Nov 2006

Tech Czar Unimpressed With US IT Workforce

I wonder if this bozo ever took an economics class? If the tech workforce is indeed underskilled (and I think this is just a shill for industries wanting cheap labor) then the solution is insure that an incentive exists for training in the skills they need. Importing more foreign workers and offshoring more jobs has the exact opposite effect: it drives down wages, thus acting as a disincentive for existing or future software engineers to get or expand their skill sets. It's why IT engineering enrollments are declining in the first place.

Now, lest one think I'm an enemy of "free trade", rest assured I'm not. However, as long as we have nation states that set the rules on personal mobility, I'd like to propose a "Fair Trade in Personnel" policy as follows: we will allow in and issue work permits to exactly as many foreign citizens as their country of origin has reciprocated for American citizens. Because the simple reason that more American don't go overseas to work is simply because they can't - they are legally barred by the immigration policies of those countries that are our supposed "free trade partners".

In order to work, free trade has to be free. Restrictions placed on the movement of goods, services and people do not serve free trade: they serve the interests of industry groups seeking the lowest possible cost and the highest possible margin.

"The IT work force is not skilled enough and almost never can be skilled enough," said Robert Cresanti, Under Secretary of Commerce for Technology. So what does the Poli Sci grad and ex-General Counsel for the ITAA think is the answer? Open the gates to more foreign workers, urged Cresanti, including H-1B holders.

(link) [Slashdot]

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