I saw a TV spot today from this organization
claiming a big conspiracy against American workers by evil corporate
America to off-shore jobs or importation of foreigners for those jobs.
What a load of crap. (Watch the sad little spot on their site... How
are they gonna make that house payment? Maybe by selling that $40,000
car!)
First off, the Department of Labor Statistics shows that unemployment has been on the decline for four years. For that matter, it's still much better than it has been for most of the last three decades.
This
kind of noise is caused mostly by tech workers. The problem is that in
the post-bubble era that everyone wants that dotcom paycheck, but they
can't do the work. Programmers are the most guilty of this.
I
realize that it varies from one market to the next, but at least here
in Northeast Ohio (Cleveland and Akron), there is no shortage of work.
I get calls from recruiters constantly, even though I tell them I'm
engaged in a gig I intend to keep for the time being.
Being on
the other side of it, I interviewed a great many people in my last
contract gig, and was amazed at how inept nearly all of the candidates
were. Maybe it's because of that consulting environment, where people
don't have the long-term mentoring and training opportunities. I don't
really know. But they want big dollars and can't code their way out of
a cardboard box.
And this is where you enter the foreigners. The
average Indian or Asian worker on a visa here is eager and willing to
learn. Frankly you need these people because there aren't enough
qualified Americans to fill those jobs.
When I look at that
refuting evidence, it reminds me of the immigration "debate" and makes
me feel that this is just people directing their hate toward
non-Americans. That's about the last thing we need. It's not
constructive. Welcome to the global economy. We're not the only kids in
the sandbox. The sooner we learn that and start competing, instead of
implementing this protectionist bullshit, the sooner we'll be in better
shape.