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What STEM Shortage? The sector isn’t seeing wage growth and has more graduates than jobs.
National Review ^ | 05/20/2014 | Steven Camarota

Posted on 05/20/2014 6:40:33 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

The idea that we need to allow in more workers with science, technology, engineering, and math (“STEM”) background is an article of faith among American business and political elite.

But in a new report, my Center for Immigration Studies colleague Karen Zeigler and I analyze the latest government data and find what other researchers have found: The country has well more than twice as many workers with STEM degrees as there are STEM jobs. Also consistent with other research, we find only modest levels of wage growth for such workers for more than a decade. Both employment and wage data indicate that such workers are not in short supply.

Reports by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), the RAND Corporation, the Urban Institute, and the National Research Council have all found no evidence that STEM workers are in short supply. After looking at evidence from the EPI study, PBS entitled its story on the report “The Bogus High-Tech Worker Shortage: How Guest Workers Lower U.S. Wages.” This is PBS, mind you, which is as likely to report skeptically on immigration as it is to report skeptically on taxpayer subsidies for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: jobs; stem; technology
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1 posted on 05/20/2014 6:40:33 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

And Obama is throwing $$$ at STEM programs. Our high school just got a couple hundred thousand dollar interest free loans to implement STEM.


2 posted on 05/20/2014 6:42:28 AM PDT by goodwithagun (My gun has killed fewer people than Ted Kennedy's car.)
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To: SeekAndFind

This article is BS .

Top flight technical people are always in short supply


3 posted on 05/20/2014 6:46:05 AM PDT by rdcbn
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To: SeekAndFind

What percentage of these degree holders actually have skills employers are looking for?


4 posted on 05/20/2014 6:46:49 AM PDT by proxy_user
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To: SeekAndFind

Anecdotal evidence, mind you, but I’m currently working about two dozen open requisitions for Mechanical and Electrical Engineers. Supply vs. demand ratio in our area is about 3:1...with three open positions for every one available engineer. It’s a candidate’s market, from where I sit. Probably 90% of the responses I get to advertisements for these positions are from foreign nationals looking for sponsorship.

There IS a candidate shortage, at least in my area of the country (Central KY).


5 posted on 05/20/2014 6:47:25 AM PDT by ItsOurTimeNow ("Scheming demons dressed in kingly guise, beating down the multitudes and scoffing at the wise.")
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To: SeekAndFind

I think American’s, real Americans, should develop shadow economies and shadow societies. Pay taxes and obey all the regulations, or rebel against them, that’s not the point, but only buy from other conservatives and only give charity to overtly conservative causes. Very rich conservatives should give grants to conservative scholars for “advanced conservative studies”. Real conservative studies, not just listening to an egomaniac talk about himself on the radio. Only hire conservatives and only work for conservatives. But how will we educate people? We can’t do any worse at educating people than we have.

I think we’re too entangled with the world.


6 posted on 05/20/2014 6:49:38 AM PDT by demshateGod (The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.)
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To: goodwithagun

Imagine if the tech companies set up specific training classes/courses catered to their needs in high schools and/or unemployment training centers around the country for Americans instead of spending money sponsoring foreigners.


7 posted on 05/20/2014 6:50:30 AM PDT by Grumpybutt (Look to November 2014)
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To: rdcbn
"Top flight technical people are always in short supply"

Your response is BS and laughable, although based on the logic, you sound like a socialist, so I shouldn't be surprised.
8 posted on 05/20/2014 6:52:31 AM PDT by indthkr
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To: SeekAndFind

First, having a tech degree and knowing what you’re doing may well be two different things. Freelancer.com is a legit site that offers consulting jobs to programmers, etc. However, I am amazed how many “projects” are students who want someone else to do their homework for them, or take online tests for them.

Second, Obozo has no clue what it would take to turn this sluggish economy around, nor do his Socialist cronies. The fastest-growing economy in the world got there by lowering taxes on corporations to the lowest rates on the planet, reducing personal income taxes to 15%, and reducing the gov’ts share of GNP from almost 37% to less that 25% in less than a decade. The country: Chile.

Hey, Stupid! Wake up!


9 posted on 05/20/2014 6:53:50 AM PDT by econjack (I'm not bossy...I just know what you should be doing.)
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To: indthkr
Your response is BS and laughable, although based on the logic, you sound like a socialist, so I shouldn't be surprised.

Tell us why you feel this way.

10 posted on 05/20/2014 6:55:13 AM PDT by econjack (I'm not bossy...I just know what you should be doing.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Hmm, I wonder what an “H1B Visa” is?


11 posted on 05/20/2014 6:57:31 AM PDT by Yo-Yo (Is the /sarc tag really necessary?)
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To: rdcbn

Sure, top flight.

Top flight candidates are not what tech companies are using H-1 visas for, but for the jobs that competent American workers could do.


12 posted on 05/20/2014 6:58:05 AM PDT by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults)
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To: SeekAndFind

I dunno, I always looked at it this way. Someone with a STEM background can do anything with it. They can be, for example, work in their technical area of expertise. But, and this is the big but, they can also expand and work in business, technical sales, law, etc. You just can’t go wrong with a STEM background.


13 posted on 05/20/2014 7:01:10 AM PDT by FlipWilson
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To: Grumpybutt

That’s what I’m talking about in my last post. Conservatives, and Christians, should run their business according to their ideology, educate their kids based on ideology, spend money, etc. Come out from among them.


14 posted on 05/20/2014 7:01:18 AM PDT by demshateGod (The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.)
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To: Grumpybutt
Imagine if the tech companies set up specific training classes/courses catered to their needs in high schools

That's pretty much exactly what the STEM efforts by many in our area. It's less about getting STEM workers with bachelor's degrees than it is getting kids into votech and "non-college" training and education programs that give them hands-on experience and know-how rather than pure academia.

I'm not exactly sold on STEM, but I'm definitely not taking this article and its study at face value, either.


15 posted on 05/20/2014 7:05:40 AM PDT by caligatrux (...some animals are more equal than others.)
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To: SeekAndFind
...we find only modest levels of wage growth...

I think this is the key to the study. My experience is management wants the tech worker wage growth to be flat or negative.

16 posted on 05/20/2014 7:09:34 AM PDT by Menehune56 ("Let them hate so long as they fear" (Oderint Dum Metuant), Lucius Accius (170 BC - 86 BC))
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To: indthkr; rdcbn
Your response is BS and laughable, although based on the logic, you sound like a socialist, so I shouldn't be surprised.

Who peed in your Cheerios this morning?

He is absolutely right: Competent, experienced engineers and architects are always in short supply.

There are always localized surpluses: the boom/bust cycle of some industries cause a see-saw. And, there are geographical issues: different regions have different demands, and if you aren't willing to relocate, you can struggle to find another job.

But, I think the real cause of the mismatch described in this article is skill-based. An engineering, science, or IT degree can be worthless if you don't continually learn new skills. When I started, COBOL and FORTRAN were primary requirements. Then, it became C and C++. Java and .NET took the throne a while back, but in some places that is yesterday's technology.

Another issue is out-sourcing. Like manufacturing, technology jobs are migrating outside the US. The 'Net has made it much easier for someone to do technology work at home. But, if you can telecommute from home, then your job can be done by someone on the other side of the world.

It really comes down to performance: "average" isn't good enough in the US any longer. If you are exceptionally good at what you do, you won't have a problem getting and keeping a job. If you are just "doing what you have to do", it's a matter of time before you suffer the consequences.

17 posted on 05/20/2014 7:09:37 AM PDT by justlurking (tagline removed, as demanded by Admin Moderator)
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To: indthkr
“Top flight technical people are always in short supply”

Your response is BS and laughable, although based on the logic, you sound like a socialist, so I shouldn't be surprised.


Actually, top flight people in general are always in short supply. Top flight technical people are in even shorter supply because the subject matter is more difficult and the training required to obtain and maintain proficiency is rigorous

18 posted on 05/20/2014 7:11:44 AM PDT by rdcbn
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To: rdcbn

This article is 100%

I’m in and had been in the Chemical and Pharmaceutical industry

Whenever I have an entry level position open, I am flooded with Resumes from overqualified people with many years experience. I see many highly qualified people with long gaps in employment history, struggling to find any work.

Granted a big part of that is I am in New Jersey, but H1Bs (and Internships) have decimated salaries and jobs in this industry. Go to any pharmaceutical company, a quarter or half the science staff has the last name Patel.


19 posted on 05/20/2014 7:15:09 AM PDT by qam1 (There's been a huge party. All plates and the bottles are empty, all that's left is the bill to pay)
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To: rdcbn
Reports by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), the RAND Corporation, the Urban Institute, and the National Research Council have all found no evidence that STEM workers are in short supply.

All these institutes are lying?

20 posted on 05/20/2014 7:20:20 AM PDT by skeeter
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