H-1B Open Season: The Sprint for STEM Talent

WASHINGTON – (April 1, 2015) April 1st marks the beginning of high skill immigration season, when companies submit applications to acquire temporary employment visas, known as H-1Bs, to hire talented foreign workers in fields such as information technology and engineering. These workers are critical to fill the widening high skills gap in the United States which is forcing companies to either reduce production or move jobs overseas to accommodate their growing need for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills.

Unfortunately, a vocal group of opponents, with a vested interest in keeping foreign workers out of the labor pool, have developed a number of myths about the H-1B program designed to reduce or even kill this important avenue for high-skilled talent. In response, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation has created responses to five of the most popular myths about the H-1B program, to shed a light on the true state of STEM talent in the U.S. and promote the desperate need for more foreign technology workers.

Myth #1: Wages in IT sectors are low and remain stagnant.

Median wages in engineering and computer occupations are 2.5 times the national average and are increasing 55 percent faster than average wages.

Myth #2: The H-1B visa helps undercut domestic wages and replace U.S. workers.

Foreign workers utilizing H-1B visas are employed in positions that would otherwise go unfilled. Moreover, these workers are not paid substantially less than native workers, and in some occupations are paid on average more than domestic labor.

Myth #3: There are no STEM jobs for U.S. graduates.

STEM students are more likely to use their skills in the marketplace and STEM graduates experience lower unemployment rates than their peers. All sectors of the economy demand STEM labor, so many STEM graduates go into industries which are not traditionally associated with math or science but where their skills are nonetheless in high demand.

Myth #4: American universities supply enough STEM grads to satisfy demand.

In several STEM fields, graduation rates fall well short of expected job growth. The U.S. graduate 51,000 computer science bachelor’s students per year, while the economy is expected to add 66,000 jobs in computer occupations over the next 10 years.

Myth #5: The U.S. economy is stronger without the H-1B visa.

Without high skilled foreign labor, many companies would have no choice but to offshore technology jobs. Companies that remain and overpay for scarce STEM talent put themselves at a significant competitive disadvantage compared to other countries with better immigration policies.

“While the H-1B program is certainly not perfect and could be improved, the high-skilled labor it enables is vital for the U.S. economy,” says Robert Atkinson, President of ITIF. “Congress should work to increase the number of high-skilled STEM immigrants into the U.S. economy.”

ITIF will be releasing a policy report on the STEM skills gap and the need for high-skill immigration reform in April.