http://www.zazona.com/ShameH1B/H1BNews.htm 6/28/2002
According to the American Electronics Association (AeA), a major industry lobbyist that pushed Congress for increasing the H-1B quota, new statistics show that 96,700 new jobs in computer IT were created in 2001. Since 163,000 H-1B visas were issued in 2001, and according to the INS 53% of those visas are computer/IT jobs, 86,390 of the jobs in 2001 were taken by H-1Bs.
In other words, 9 out of every 10 new computer/IT jobs in 2001 were filled with H-1Bs. This happened despite the massive job losses suffered by American high-tech workers.
[These numbers are probably all understated. Congressional testimony states the INS doesn't know how many visas they issue. The alleged 163,000 "visas" were actually "petitions" (I-129) reported. The average petition requests 4 visas, 8 in the cases of IT. My 2001 LCA database from DOLETA shows: More than 268,361 Labor Condition Applications were filed with the US Dept. of Labor in fiscal year 2001 (10/1/2000 - 9/30/2001). Of the 268,361 total LCAs, 229,107 were certified. Of the 229,107 LCAs certified, 1,234,275 visas were approved across all job codes. For IT occupations, 104,715 LCA's were certified for 792,139 H-1B visas in 2001 - 4 TIMES THE CAP OF 195,000.]Still don't believe me?
USDOJ H-1B 3rd Qtr Report (see page 5) (pdf*) Table 2. Number of H-1B Petitions Filed in Fiscal Year 2001 by Quarter and Reason of Exemption from Fee as of June 30, 2001 Fiscal Year 2001: Oct 00 Jan 01 Apr 01 Oct 00 to Dec 00 to Mar 01 to Jun 01 to Jun 01 TOTAL PETITIONS FILED* 128,758 75,396 65,952 270,106 Without fee exemptions 119,493 66,778 54,476 240,747 [240,747 paid $1,000 fees. That's $240 million into the training fund (in 9 months) that Bush is going to redirect to "fast track" visa processing in the 2003 budget. There is probably a $billion in the fund as 2001 was a slow year. Incidently, the cap on visas was 195,000, but who's counting?]4 MILLION H-1Bs Certified 1998 - 2001
http://www.AutomationMatrix.com/ITAA
http://www.itaa.org/news/view/ViewPoint.cfm?ID=23 Despite Decline in IT Workforce, The Numbers Indicate Future Optimism Harris Miller, President, Information Technology Association of America May 31, 2002
U.S. companies shed over 500,000 IT workers in the past year, according to Bouncing Back: Jobs, Skills and the Continuing Demand for IT Workers, ITAA’s 2002 study of demand for high tech workers. The size of the IT workforce dropped from 10.4 million to 9.9 million, with tech workers at IT companies substantially more likely to receive a pink slip than their counterparts working in non-IT companies. At the same time, our study found estimated demand for IT workers in the next 12 months to be increased substantially over 2001. Hiring managers told ITAA that they would seek to fill 1.1 million jobs in the next year.
[These workforce numbers don't agree with National Science Foundation estimates:] NSF SESTAT (pdf*) NSF SESTAT 1999 estimates (in 2002 report) workforce - 11 million science and engineering (including IT) + 193,200 unemployed + 1.86 million not in the workforce (?) (bridge people) + 5 million have eng/sci degrees, but are not employed in eng/sci 67.3% - in related fields 32.7% - 1.6 million - (burger flippers) Foreign Scientists and Engineers on Temporary Work Visas Text table 3-25. October 1999 to February 2000 S&E-related occupations on approved H-1b petitions Percentage of total Occupation Number petitions Total ......................... 81,262 100.0 Computer related .............. 42,563 53.5 Engineering and architecture .. 10,385 13.1 Education ..................... 4,419 5.3 Medical ....................... 3,246 4.1 Social sciences ............... 1,963 2.5 Life sciences ................. 1,843 2.3 Mathematical and physical sciences ............. 1,453 1.8 Non-S&E-related occupations ................... 15,390 18.9 SOURCE: Immigration and Naturalization Service administrative data. Science & Engineering Indicators - 2002 (Note: This data, like all reports from INS, DOL, BLS, DOC, indicate "petitions", not "visas". The I-129 visa petition has Supplement-1 form for multiple visas on one petition. LCAs also certify multiple aliens on one application. LCA analysis shows an average of 4 aliens to 1 application. For IT occupations, the average is 8 aliens per application. Our assumption, confirmed at DOL in DC, is that visas have been issued at 4 times the numbers presented in official statistics (8 times for IT).)Unemployment
http://www.njfac.org/jobnews.html SEPTEMBER 2002 UNEMPLOYMENT DATA* (U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS) OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT: 5.6% White 5.1% Black 9.6% Hispanic 7.4% Men 20 years and over 5.2% Women 20 years and over 4.9% Teen-agers (16-19 years) 15.7% Black teens 27.7% Officially unemployed 8.1 million workers HIDDEN UNEMPLOYMENT Working part-time because can't find a full-time job: 4.2 million People who want jobs but are not counted in official statistics because not looking (of which more than 1 million searched for work during the prior 12 months and were available for work during the reference week.) 4.7 million Total: 17.0 million (11.5% of the labor force)
In addition, millions more were working full-time, year-round, yet earned less than the official poverty level for a family of four. In the latest year for which data are available, 2000, that number was 16.9 million, 16.8 percent of full-time workers (estimated from Money Income in the United States, Bureau of the Census, Sept. 2001). Roughly one in four women and one in seven men who had full-time jobs the year round earned less than the poverty level for a family of four.