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Report Questions Science Workforce Shortage

by Andrea Widener
April 29, 2013 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 91, Issue 17

U.S. colleges and universities are producing enough workers to fill jobs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, according to a report from the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank. The report, released last week, argues that guest worker programs such as H-1B visas should not be expanded as proposed in the Senate’s immigration reform bill (S. 744) because those positions could be filled by U.S. workers. That is in contrast to arguments by the high-tech sector, which says companies cannot find enough workers to fill open information technology positions. According to the report, highly skilled immigrant workers are filling one-third to one-half of all IT jobs and are paid lower wages than domestic workers. Although the report focuses on the IT sector, it points out that more students have been graduating in all STEM fields. However, only half of those graduates are hired into STEM jobs each year. And wages in STEM fields have not increased since the 1990s, which indicates that demand is not increasing, the report states.

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