gates.JPG

Microsoft founder Bill Gates, seen here speaking in Jakarta, Indonesia, April 5, has argued that the federal government should issue more H-1B visas.

(AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

By Jim Ludwick

For decades, the Democratic Party has styled itself the champion of working Americans. Why, then, with countless of our fellow citizens still unemployed, do congressional Democrats - including all of Oregon's - seek to import millions more foreign workers?

Recently, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi filed a discharge petition to force H.R. 15 to the chamber's floor.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., that bill and its Senate counterpart, S. 744, would "double the annual flow of guest workers to compete for jobs in every sector of the U.S. economy."

Among H.R. 15's co-sponsors are Oregon's Democratic Reps. Suzanne Bonamici, Earl Blumenauer, Peter DeFazio and Kurt Schrader. Oregon's Democratic senators, Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, voted for S. 744 last June.

Their support for these bills is mystifying. In February,

, 20 million Americans and legal residents either were jobless or "involuntary part-time workers." In our state, reports the Oregon Employment Department, more than a quarter-million fell into those categories. The U-6 unemployment rate (which includes underemployed workers) in Oregon is

and real wages, factoring in inflation, have declined by about 10 percent over the past four years.

So again: Why Congressional Democrats' zeal to flood our nation with ever-more foreign workers?

One reason: High-tech behemoths have convinced many lawmakers that the United States suffers a shortage of native talent in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and IT (information technology) fields. To ease that shortage, they argue, Congress must enable employers to import more high-tech workers from abroad.

The problem? The high-tech worker shortage is a myth. "U.S. colleges graduate far more scientists and engineers than find employment in those fields every year - about 200,000 more,"

. Between 2010 and 2020, reports David North, a former assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Labor, "there will be three new high-tech degree holders for every two high-tech job openings."

One reason for the dearth of high-tech jobs for Americans: "High-tech industries," report Salzman et al, "are now using guest workers to fill two-thirds of new IT jobs." In one recent year, they say, "372,516 guest workers were issued visas to enter the U.S. labor market"; as many as 228,500 of them "were available for IT employment."

Why do employers find foreign high-tech workers so attractive? "More than 80 percent of H-1B visa holders" - the federal H-1B program issues the most high-tech visas - "are approved to be hired at wages below those paid to American-born workers for comparable positions,"

. Boasts Phiroz Vandrevala, a principal of one of the "body shops" that supply foreign workers to U.S. high-tech companies: "Our wage per employee is 20 to 25 percent less than [the] U.S. wage for similar employee[s]."

And high-tech workers are only part of the story. Via a

, H.R. 15 and S. 744 would admit more lower-skilled foreign workers as well, to fill positions in (among other fields) construction, restaurants and retail. These workers would compete with our most economically vulnerable citizens - among them youths, blacks, Hispanics and recently discharged veterans - for jobs they need.

Says

: "Companies are using guest worker visa programs not to supplement American workers but to supplant them."

H.R. 15 and S. 744 would amplify this injustice. Oregonians should contact the state's congressional Democrats and tell them to withdraw their support of these bills - and, instead, to champion the hiring of the unemployed and underemployed Americans to whom they owe their foremost responsibility.

Jim Ludwick lives in McMinnville