Supplementary Materials for Professor Matloff's "Debunking the Myth of a Desperate Software Labor Shortage"

• Professor Matloff's writings

• studies and data sources

• organizations critical of the H-1B program

• organizations supportive of the H-1B program

• organizations of H-1Bs and related professionals

• laws and procedures related to H-1B

Some of Professor Matloff's writings:

• Professor Matloff's updated congressional testimony, Debunking the Myth of a Desperate Software Labor Shortage.

• Dr. Matloff's 1998 New York Times op-ed piece on this topic, focusing on the age discrimination aspect.

• Prof. Matloff's 2000 op-ed in the Washington Post, focusing on the politics of H-1B.

• Dr. Matloff's 2000 op-ed in Forbes Magazine, aimed at managers and executives.

• Prof. Matloff's 2000 op-ed in Newsday, an update on the politics of H-1B.

• His CIS critique of the National Research Council study

• His 1999 CIS article analyzing the Gramm/Lofgren bills introduced in 1998.

Studies and data sources:

• The Dept. of Labor Inspector General's report on rampant abuse in the H-1B work visa program, as well as related abuse in the work-sponsored green card program.

• An excellent source of IT salary data, year by year back to 1990. Another source, only for the current year and more tailored to individuals, is Pencom. For salaries of new graduates, data is compiled by NACE. See also the Bureau of Labor Statistics site.

• Reports from the General Accounting Office, Congress' research arm: A report criticizing the ITAA's research methodology (as copied into the DOC report cited below) a report showing that the H-1B program has no effective controls against abuse.

• A report by the U.S. Dept. of Commerce, largely based on the ITAA report. The Commerce Department has since changed its stance, in an updated report, on some of these issues, after further investigation, for instance finding that computer science enrollment in U.S. universities is not on the decline but is actually skyrocketing. Then in 1999 it made much further revisions, now saying that cannot determine whether an IT labor shortage exists or not. The latter Commerce report also addresses issues of age discrimination, the extremely picky nature of employer hiring policies, etc. to some extent. DOC produced a similar report in 2000.

• Harvard economist Eric Weinstein's exposure of a National Science Foundation plan to use foreign nationals to keep U.S. science and engineering wages down.

• A Harris Poll commissioned by IEEE-USA, which showed that the vast majority of Americans oppose a liberal H-1B policy. A similar Wall Street Journal/NBC poll in December 1998 had the same result.

• Economist Dr. Robert Lerman of the Urban Institute presented testimony to a Senate hearing in February 1998, stating that the data on salaries, employment and so on do not support the industry's claims of a labor shortage.

• A study by Professor Laura Langbein of American University, finding that when an engineer loses a job, it takes on average three weeks longer to find a new job for each additional year of age.

• A study led by Professor Clair Brown of UC Berkeley, finding that available evidence does not support industry's claims of a high-tech labor shortage, and also finding that American engineers' salary growth has been inhibited by the influx of foreign engineers.

• The Network World manager survey.

• The InformationWeek manager survey.

• Dr. Hal Salzman's report commissioned by the National Academy of Sciences.

• The complete testimonies presented at the April 21, 1998 House hearing on both sides of the H-1B issue.

• Some of the testimonies presented at the February 25, 1998 Senate hearing on both sides of the H-1B issue.

• The complete transcript of the August 5, 1999 House hearing on H-1B.

• The complete transcript of the May 25, 2000 House hearing on the H-1B issue.

• The Senate testimony by Lawrence Richards of the former organization Softpac. Much other useful information is available on Softpac's site.

• The American engineering Association has quite a bit of material, notably including the AEA Congressional testimony by Bill Reed and the testimony by David North, former Assistant Secretary of Labor (not affiliated with AEA).

• An article about policy on, and impacts of, foreign-born scientists and engineers by Michael Teitelbaum of the Sloan Foundation, who is a member of the bipartisan, congressionally-appointed U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform.

• A summary of the Boston University Workshop on Migration of Foreign Scientists and Engineers to the United States, consisting of various panelists from academia, government and industry.

• Bob Rivers' analysis of alleged shortages in the computing fields.

• The report of the National Software Alliance.

• The report of the Computing Research Association, a consortium of university Computer Science Departments and major industrial firms.

• The National Research Council's Workforce Needs in Information Technology Committee released a report in October 2000 on H-1B and the IT labor market.
• Prof. AnnaLee Saxenian's study of immigrant entrepeneurship in Silicon Valley.

• IT Workforce Data Project Reports I-IV, from the United Engineering Foundation.

• H-1B salaries, by company, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act

• H-1B salaries, by company, Dept. of Labor site (2001)

Organizations critical of the H-1B program:

• www.nomoreh1b.com

• H-1B Hall of Shame

• The Programmers' Guild.

• The Technical Employees Department of the AFL-CIO.

• The Washington Alliance of Technology Workers.

• The American Engineering Association.

• IEEE-USA.

• FACE Intel (Former and Current Employees of Intel).

Organizations supportive of the H-1B program:

• Information Technology Association of America (ITAA).

• The National Software Alliance.

• The Stanford Computer Industry Project.

• The American Electronics Association has been an active lobbyist for liberal H-1B policies.

• The Computing Research Association, a consortium of university Computer Science Departments and major industrial firms.

Organizations of H-1Bs and related professionals:

• An organization based mainly on people from India, the Immigrants Support Network, has been the main body of H-1Bs to lobby Congress.

• A Chinese H-1B organization, less active, exists as well, the Chinese Professionals and Entrepreneurs Association.

Laws and procedures related to H-1B:

• American Visa Now

• Carl Shusterman