A paper recently published by the BLS is misleading and leaves out key details about one of the authors and the data sources used. I hope you will take into account that one of the authors works for one of the biggest H-1B users and that the main data source for the paper has a vested interest in increasing H-1B numbers.
This paper claims that the high tech salaries in California, Texas, and Washington are indicative of a tech shortage. The paper fails to note that tech workers’ salaries are flat, and in some cases declining, across the nation. The nationwide salary trend is indicative of a glut, not a shortage, of workers.
The paper’s authors also fail to mention that STEM recruiters, 18 of which provide the main data source for the paper, often have trouble finding suitable candidates because employers often impose hiring restrictions like an employee’s age or years of work experience. This can make it more difficult for a recruiter to find American workers who meet the employer’s demands.
Lastly, one of the paper’s coauthors, Yi Xue, works for Palantir, one of the country’s largest H-1B employers. Palantir is a Big Data company and helps design software tools so groups like Fwd.us can lobby Congress for amnesty and more foreign workers. As this wasn’t enough to provide evidence of the group’s aims, one of Palantir’s co-founders, Joe Lonsdale, is a major Fwd.us donor.
These omissions and oversights make the paper and its goals highly suspect and its findings
must not be taken at face value if you decide to read it.
Phone me if you would like to talk about this,
Greg Raven, Apple Valley, CA
