Former Secretary of Labor; Democratic Challenger MA Governor
Against more H-1B visas: not a long-term solution
America’s booming IT sector is [facing] a severe shortage of skilled people. What can they do?
Give stock options.
Help IT professionals keep their skills sharp.
Grow your own [such as a] technology and engineering institute
Recruit more aggressively [in] smaller rural communities and to women and minorities.
But there’s something I wouldn’t recommend, because it’s not a long-term solution. Don’t go to Washington to fight for allowing more foreign engineers
and designers to enter the US on temporary H-1B visas. That may help in the short term, but it doesn’t deal with the underlying problem. It won’t create a permanently bigger stream of IT professionals for the future.
America’s buoyant economy is a testament to the dynamism of its IT sector. But for IT to stay dynamic, more Americans will have to become a part of it.
Source: Computer World, “Coping With the Shortage”
Sep 6, 1999
