Mark Wilkinson ([log in to unmask]) wrote:
: To me, the outlook is bleak for the IT world. Opinions on a postcard
: please...
:
The same in the US, where 7.8% of computer programmers were unemployed
as of November, 2001:
http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20011213S0024
InformationWeek > IT Jobless Rate > IT Jobless Rate Hits 5.5% In November
December 13, 2001
"...Computer programmers experienced the biggest increase in joblessness,
with their unemployment rate soaring to 7.8% last month, from 1.7% a
year earlier. Computer systems analysts' joblessness rose to 4.5%,
from 1.8% in November 2000..."
The US is offshore outsourcing a lot of IT work to India, China, Russia,
and are starting to offshore outsource other jobs; e.g.:
o accounts payable
o helpdesk support
o insurance claim processing
o credit-card processing
o CAD/CAM
o medical transcription
o e-mail processing
Here's some articles on offshore outsourcing:
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-8324464.html
India becoming world's back office - Tech News - CNET.com
http://www.computerworld.com/storyba/0,4125,NAV47_STO58739,00.html
Ford opens IT hub in India to save millions | Computerworld News &
Feature Stories
http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/svtop/global010601.htm
Eager workforce, lower costs shift tech help overseas (1/05/2002)
In addition to offshore outsourcing, the US has its H-1B visa program,
where hundred of thousands of immigrant IT workers are imported to fill
a mythical labor shortage.
Similar programs exist in the UK and Australia:
http://www.shout99.com/contractors/showarticle.pl?n=&id=11483
Government justifies Fast-Track foreign IT with 1999 information
http://www.contractoruk.co.uk/news070102.html
Are IT skills shortage schemes being abused?
In the H-1B program's laws are not being enforced. Even some H-1Bs are
complaining about lack of enforcement:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-112101visa.story
U.S. Tech Firms Abusing Visa Program, Critics Say
By JUBE SHIVER Jr. , Times Staff Writer
[snip]
"Amid the tight job market, there are concerns about abuses of the H-1B
visa holders themselves. A few immigrants have begun campaigning for
reform of the program, citing instances of employers paying low wages
and threatening to seek the deportation of foreign workers who
complain.
The GAO--which found that foreigners were offered a median starting
salary of $45,000 last year--said there is little policing of the H-1B
program by the INS.
Devarakonda, of the Immigrants Support Network, agreed with the GAO's
assessment. "The current system is certainly flawed," he said. "The
government doesn't have the resources to police" H-1B.
The lack of enforcement has been known since 1998...
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2166105,00.html
H1-B safety net fails IT workers
By Stephanie Neil
eWEEK
November 18, 1998 6:10 AM PT
[ snip ]
And, although the new law says the salary of the H1-B holder is
supposed to be posted in the department in which the person is
working, so that all workers know a competitive salary is being
offered, this has not been done. The law also requires that each time
the H1-B holder is transferred to a new job site, the sponsoring
company must apply for a new visa for that person. That was not done,
she said.
This is common and uncontrollable, even under the new H1-B law, DOL
officials admit.
"Are there companies that are able to get away with it? Of course,"
said the DOL's Fraser.
"And if the question is, Why? The answer is that the law, until this
new bill was enacted, didn't make that illegal," he said.
The DOL will never be able to catch many of the offending parties, he
admitted.
"It is not due to a lack of concern or commitment to see that the
right thing is happening. It is due to a weakness in the law. We've
worked very hard in this new bill to make a little progress toward
closing some of those loopholes ... but we don't have the power to
track all the companies," he said.
The DOL does not perform spot checks on companies that they suspect
may be breaking the H1-B law, Fraser said. Rather, they rely upon
complaints. In the last fiscal year, through September, there were
only 63 complaints filed..."
Those 63 complaints is NOT any indicator that the employers of H-1Bs
are following the law.
http://www.fairus.org/html/11-9-00.htm
FAIR - GAO Condemns H-1B Foreign Worker Program
"A new report from Congresss investigative arm, the General Accounting
Office (GAO), has found that the H-1B system for bringing in foreign
workers is so badly set up and administered that very little is done
to prevent fraud and abuse of the system.
The report (H-1B Foreign Workers: Better Controls Needed to Help
Employers and Protect Workers, GAO/HEHS-00-157, September 2000) found
the following:
* The Department of Labor has almost no authority to enforce the
provisions that are supposed to ensure that foreign workers are
used only where necessary and not to undercut the wages of native
workers.
* The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) doesnt have the
information it needs to assess whether an employers application
for a foreign worker is valid.
* INS reviewers are evaluated on how many H-1B applications they
process not how well they review them, which means they have
incentive to rubberstamp as many applications as they receive.
* Once the INS approves foreign workers, it doesnt know whether or
when they arrive or leave.
* Even when the Department of Labor knows there is fraud or abuse,
they can do little about it..."
Source: H-1B Foreign Workers: Better Controls Needed to Help Employers
and Protect Workers,
GAO/HEHS-00-157, September 2000."
The cited GAO report is available at:
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/he00157.pdf
"H-1B Foreign Workers: Better Controls Needed to Help Employers
and Protect Workers", GAO/HEHS-00-157, September 2000.
The INS only has 40 staffers to deal with fraud in the H-1B and all
other visa applications:
http://www.siliconvalley.com/news/special/visa/
SiliconValley.com - Special Reports
"...H-1B visa fraud is not uncommon, ranging from academic degrees
faked overseas to phony job offers in the United States. The
Immigration and Naturalization Service has only 40 staffers at its
service centers nationwide to investigate fraud in H-1B and all
other visa applications..."
So there's little risk in paying the H-1B worker less than the prevailing
wage.
Many of the US IT workers are unaware of offshore outsourcing and the H-1B
program, allowing Congress to pass laws such as the H-1B laws to earn
their contributions from high-tech companies. If they ever become outraged,
they can contact their elected representatives, whose voting records and
postal & email addresses are available at:
http://www.vote-smart.org/index.phtml
Project Vote Smart - A Voter's Self Defense System
The answer they'll get will probably be like Senator Hatch's:
http://www.zazona.com/ShameH1B/Library/Politicians/Hatch.htm
--Jerry Leslie (my opinions are strictly my own)
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