Professor Norman Matloff often speaks of the “internal brain drain” that occurs when the importation of foreign tech workers drives “able Americans out of scientific and technical fields.” A new study by economists at Notre Dame and Fairfield Universities (Connecticut) has indeed found that the presence of highly-skilled foreign workers affects highly-skilled natives in a way that is “consistent with displacement.”
The decline in high skilled native populations is driven by high skilled immigrant inflows, and high skilled outflows increase from affected [areas].
Simply put, skilled foreign workers displace skilled native workers. This occurs because, contrary to industry claims, there is no shortage of available American workers to fill jobs in the tech sector. Foreign workers are brought in to drive down wages and conditions to the benefit of tech employers, and native workers are forced to seek work elsewhere.
So why are politicians pushing legislation like the Startup Act 2.0, which, if passed, would immediately add tens of thousands of foreign workers in tech fields? The argument behind the bill is that the best way to improve the U.S. economy is to bring in foreign workers to fill the “great demand” from tech employers (notwithstanding the existing oversupply of native workers) for skilled workers. This will “create jobs in America” and everyone will be happy – or at last the campaign coffers of the bill’s sponsors will be filled by grateful corporate contributors.
This bill has attracted support from members of both parties. Sadly, in Washington, D.C., bi-partisanship means politicians joining together to celebrate a bill that will put more Americans out of work.
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Our universities turn out 300,000 technical professionals a year. Prior to the Great Recession there were only 100,000 openings. 60,000 openings were filled by H1-B visa holders. Thus 200,000 tech pros a year were surplus. With the recession the surplus is greater still. For the Republicans it’s all geared to pandering to business interests. To left-wingers it’s about changing the demographic makeup of the voting base to increase numbers of poor, left-wing voting, foreigners.
2012 is the last chance to stop the nation from falling off the immigration cliff. By 2016, it will be too late. If current legal immigration levels continue the proportion of legally voting immigrants will give the left-wing a permanent, unassailable majority. This is what they have had in California since 1974. Is there any question about the impact of immigration on California? It has made California a bastion of left-wing lunacy. California is our Greece.
The entire nation by 2016 will be in freefall over that cliff if we don’t stop all immigration. That is both legal and illegal immigration. If Obama loses the White House this year, the continued change in the demographic makeup of the nation will prompt him to run again in 2016. With the Republicans unable to win the presidency Obama wins in 2016 and then packs the Supreme Court with left-wing justices. He then succeeds in having the two term presidential limit overturned and we end up with Baraq Obama president for 16 to 20 years.
Have a nice day.