House bill would create 45,000 more visas for tech workers

Published: 2 March 2000 y., Thursday
The proposal by Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, is far smaller than a Silicon Valley-backed version introduced last month in the Senate that would boost the H-1B program by nearly 300,000 visas over the next three years. The booming high-tech sector says it needs hundreds of thousands of new workers immediately. But Smith says his plan for a one-time boost of 45,000 visas, which would raise this year_s allotment to 160,000, is sufficient. Republican Reps. Tom Campbell, whose California district includes Silicon Valley; Bob Goodlatte of Virginia;and Chris Cannon of Utah are co-sponsors of the bill. The bipartisan Senate bill offered by the chairmen of the Senate Judiciary Committee and its immigration subcommittee would raise the H-1B allotment to 195,000 annually for three years. An industry trade group, the Computing Technology Industry Association, claims nearly 269,000 high-tech jobs are now unfilled. The problem costs U.S. businesses $4.5 billion a year in lost productivity, according to the association. But Smith said there is no "credible or objective study documenting the high-tech labor shortage." The National Science Foundation, which was directed by Congress in 1998 to undertake a study of the high-tech industry_s job needs, isn_t due to complete its work before fall. Organized labor, which opposes increases in visas, contends the foreign workers are unnecessary, and that high-tech executives are looking overseas chiefly to hold down wages. Critics also contend the program is rife with fraud.
Šaltinis: techserver.com
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.

Facebook Comments

New comment


Captcha

Associated articles

CD & DVD Replication vs. CD & DVD Duplication

The benefits and manufacturing process of CD & DVD Replication vs. CD & DVD Duplication. more »

Vision Helpdesk Launches Migration Tool

TheVisionWorld.com, a helpdesk software provider, today announced a new feature – “Migration Tool”. more »

Boston Interactive Wins Six Web Awards: Evidence of Outstanding Momentum

Boston Interactive, a Boston-based web design and interactive marketing firm, is thrilled to announce their recognition for web design excellence from the Web Marketers Association. Six of Boston Interactive's website projects were found winners of the prestigious WebAwards Competition. more »

Microsoft and Pioneer Enter Into Patent Cross-Licensing Agreement

Agreement covers a broad range of consumer products for both companies. more »

Brumaks Offers Website Builder for .mobi

BRUMAKS, offers the popular WebSite Tonightï, product, providing key features for those yearning to get involved in the .MOBI revolution. more »

Google Chrome: A New Take on the Browser

Google Inc. launched Google ChromeTM, a new open source browser intended to create a better web experience for users around the world. more »

Silverlight Shines at International Broadcasting Conference 2008 in Amsterdam

Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president of the Developer Division at Microsoft, talks about how Microsoft Silverlight is helping the global broadcasting and media industry grow their presence – and viewership – on the Web. more »

Motorola Survey Reveals Media Mobility is Key for the Millennial Generation

Survey of 16-27 year olds defines media consumption choices of the future. more »

Motorola Brings Media Mobility to Life at IBC 2008

Video explosion drives demand for innovation in video encoding, content transcoding and media mobility from Motorola. more »

Visa unveils mobile-payment services

Visa has taken the next step toward making mobile commerce a global reality. The card company has launched four new programs to deliver payments and services via mobile devices. more »