Sen. Hatch calls high-skilled worker shortage ‘a crisis’

[OhioChick]

Oct 24, 2014 1:32 PM PT

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) this week outlined the Republican tech agenda for the next Congress, and took a position that puts him at odds with some in his own party.

Hatch, in a speech at the corporate offices of Overstock.com in Salt Lake City, called for raising the cap on H-1B visas. "Our high-skilled worker shortage has become a crisis," said Hatch, who heads the Senate Republican High-Tech Task Force.

To support the idea of a skilled-worker shortage, Hatch cited the high demand for H-1B visas. There were 172,500 petitions this year for the 85,000 visas available under the cap, he said.

"American companies were thus unable to hire nearly 90,000 high-skilled workers they need to help grow their domestic businesses, develop innovative technologies, and compete with international competitors," said Hatch, according to the prepared text of his remarks.

More: http://www.computerworld.com/article/2838619/sen-hatch-calls-high-skilled-worker-shortage-a-crisis.html

[antigop]

1. oh, bullsh*t nt

[SteveG]

6. I want to see what salaries they are offering before they get visas

If they are offering low wages for high skilled jobs, then let the market work. All these visas do is distort the market for high skill jobs, if there is a shortage, then wages should be going up up up. if they are not, then there is no need for the visas. The only reason employers want the visas is to drive the cost of labor down.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

2. You know who has the skills those companies need?

The people who work at them. Companies could take the time to train American workers to do the jobs they need done.

With Microsoft announcing that they just laid off another 3000 workers, they could have instead put those workers into retraining to have EXACTLY the skills the company professes to need.

No university is turning out students who have exactly what any given company needs. But the company knows what it needs and is the perfect place to train new hires who will.

[TexasTowelie]

3. Ha-ha.

I posted this thread right after you:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025733266

[OhioChick]

9. I caught that!

[pkdu]

4. Um , as someone who has been an H1B visa recipient , and someone who works with many today...

BULLSHIT!

That's more like 90 thousand US workers who will keep their job this year.

[TexasTowelie]

5. It really is bullshit.

I have over two decades of experience in IT and I'm also an excellent relational database programmer, but nobody was interested in interviewing me because they knew that they would have to pay a living wage.

[ChromeFoundry]

7. "high-skilled, low-paid worker shortage"

There, I fixed it.

[SunSeeker]

10. Exactly right. nt

[Wellstone ruled]

8. Orin is covering his ass again.

Last I looked there were about 90k+ Americans that are qualified to fill these so called open positions. Asking this question,does the SLC Cult need to recruit potenial members,or is Orin carrying water for his Herbal Remedies business interests in Utah. Hatch does only what befits Hatch.

[IDemo]

11. Might be time to post this video again:

#t=86