This is a contrived shortage to try to force “comprehensive immigration reform” with its sharp increase in the number of H-1B visas. In other words, continued wage suppression for American STEM workers. I’m speaking as someone who spent a 35 year career in manufacturing and engineering and witnessed a lot of dirty dealing.
All for of these are hard, they require maths to do well.
Children are not taught maths in grade school so they can not do them. This is also why it takes so long to check out a MacDonald's if you pay in cash.
So when they get to college all the childrens that can not do maths go into “studies”. Studding is part of the process of learning, so if you get a degree in “studies” that means you have been credentialed in learning. This of course entitles you to a $1,000,000,000,000,000,000.00 a year job, because you have a degree and are real smart. You know this because you were told this by your professor, all though you are a little confused about what a donkey has to do with being smart.
Because all these students are going to the arts instead of the sciences, all of the science professors (who run all the science organizations) are scared for their jobs. Most of them know the english speaking student by name. This also bothers the science professors, because the ADMINISTRATORS are asking about student teacher ratios and graduation rates. Since we all know that administrators (who all have arts degrees) sit on the right hand of the god, the grants committee, this is worrying. Therefore we need more students in STEM and since the professors run the professional organizations (the real professionals are out there working for a living and do not have time to attend meetings) they get the professional organizations to lobby for more money for stem training.
What is the quota on H1B visas? Is it relatively high or low to other times?