For decades, engineering has been sold as the golden ticket to middle-class prosperity—a field where hard work, technical skills, and innovation would guarantee stable, well-paying careers.
Thank you. Science and engineering unemployment and underemployment is a long-term U.S. problem. I earned my B.S. as a scientist in 1973. It was very challenging to find a position because so many engineers had their positions cut after the successful Apollo 11 landing on July 20, 1969. That was one of my motivations for continuing my education. However, the widely-promoted employment surveys were biased to not show the true level of science and engineering unemployment and underemployment (a problem that persists 52 years later!)
With great secrecy, the Association of American Universities (AAU) lobbied U.S. Representative Joshua Eilberg (D-PA) via undisclosed means to make a consequential change in U.S. immigration law in 1976, colloquially referred to as the "Eilberg Amendment." See https://theportal.wiki/wiki/Eilberg_Amendment_(1976) for an in-depth explanation by Eric Weinstein, Ph.D. Using this phrase will also reveal some of my writings on this arcane legislation. This change had the effect of granting to colleges and universities the ability to hire unlimited numbers of H-1 Visa beneficiaries who had previously been international students. (This privilege persists until today. The Eilberg Amendment was cited as legislative precedent for the passage of the controversial H-1b Visa in 1990.) I had entered graduate school three years earlier. I earned my Ph.D. in 1984 in radiation biophysics. The Eilberg Amendment turned my Ph.D. into a document that branded me as "overqualified" in the eyes of many prospective employers. Since 1984, I've been dangerously close to homelessness at least twice.
Wow Gene. A friend of mine, a retired scientist now in his eighties told me that even back in the 1960s, they were continuously trying to push down STEM salaries. The 1990 Immigration allowed them to do it by displacing Americans with foreigners.
Related to the corporate narrative about the engineering "shortage", I stumbled upon this video back in February of this year. You might find it interesting...
Due to the high number of "takes" in the video footage, I time stamped the video to start at 13:26. There are still a lot of "takes" from that point on, but watch through to the end.
miSci - museum of innovation and science - Engineer Shortage - 1955:
I agree. See the section on OPT in Sold Out: How High-Tech Billionaires & Bipartisan Beltway Crapweasels Are Screwing America's Best & Brightest Workers Hardcover – November 10, 2015
Related to the corporate narrative about the engineering "shortage", I stumbled upon this video back in February of this year. You might find it interesting...
Due to the high number of "takes" in the video footage, I time stamped the video to start at 13:26. There are still a lot of "takes" from that point on, but watch through to the end.
miSci - museum of innovation and science - Engineer Shortage - 1955:
1) OPT workers are exempt from FICA tax - SS and medicare. These are under huge pressure right now in getting enough funds to cover obligations. By giving these jobs to foreign workers, SS and medicare are further damaged.
2) OPT is a time-limited program. You only get 1-3 years on it. This is a huge advantage for many firms. Rather than having to promote people and pay them more, there is a natural "churn" which brings in more and more cheap workers. They never have to pay workers a fair wage.
3) If a person is on an H-1B, and fails to get a renewal, they can go back to school and get on OPT.
You can't lump all engineering degrees together. They are very different disciplines with very different employment statistics. Civil engineers are booming and in demand and not very impacted by h1bs. Software engineering curriculum various greatly between schools and graduate employment reflects that. Just two examples.
While I agree with all your points, I must ask, how is it that we don't have 180,000 entry level engineering positions every year (enough to cover immigration and new grads)? Surely in a country of almost 350million, that many must be retiring every year. If you look at other countries that are similarly autonomous like the US, they graduate far more scientists and engineers per year. I just left the field of patent law, and the average age of a patent lawyer is 55; the field is hiring up science PHDs like crazy to replace retirees. The rest of engineering fields should be like this.
All the smartest STEM students I knew left STEM and worked in law, finance, or actuarial positions. We need more top 10% intelligence people to choose STEM, not less. The issue is salary. In many cases, business degrees make more than STEM. So we have a chicken and egg IMO. Did immigration kill salaries and force the best engineers out of doing engineering, or did the USA stop doing great engineering and stopped needing top tier engineers and so those went elsewhere? I think US policy killed the demand side for engineers far more than flooded the supply. Scientists and engineers in the US didn't used to go and do university research, but I know when I graduated with a physics degree that's the only place I could go. The US has stopped hiring engineers and scientists.
Ross Perot said it best, "the brains always follows the manufacturing." But this is more than that. Engineering jobs entry level and advanced exist here. The numbers of foreigners alone speaks to whay college graduates with engineering degrees are not getting hired.
Thank you. Science and engineering unemployment and underemployment is a long-term U.S. problem. I earned my B.S. as a scientist in 1973. It was very challenging to find a position because so many engineers had their positions cut after the successful Apollo 11 landing on July 20, 1969. That was one of my motivations for continuing my education. However, the widely-promoted employment surveys were biased to not show the true level of science and engineering unemployment and underemployment (a problem that persists 52 years later!)
With great secrecy, the Association of American Universities (AAU) lobbied U.S. Representative Joshua Eilberg (D-PA) via undisclosed means to make a consequential change in U.S. immigration law in 1976, colloquially referred to as the "Eilberg Amendment." See https://theportal.wiki/wiki/Eilberg_Amendment_(1976) for an in-depth explanation by Eric Weinstein, Ph.D. Using this phrase will also reveal some of my writings on this arcane legislation. This change had the effect of granting to colleges and universities the ability to hire unlimited numbers of H-1 Visa beneficiaries who had previously been international students. (This privilege persists until today. The Eilberg Amendment was cited as legislative precedent for the passage of the controversial H-1b Visa in 1990.) I had entered graduate school three years earlier. I earned my Ph.D. in 1984 in radiation biophysics. The Eilberg Amendment turned my Ph.D. into a document that branded me as "overqualified" in the eyes of many prospective employers. Since 1984, I've been dangerously close to homelessness at least twice.
Wow Gene. A friend of mine, a retired scientist now in his eighties told me that even back in the 1960s, they were continuously trying to push down STEM salaries. The 1990 Immigration allowed them to do it by displacing Americans with foreigners.
Related to the corporate narrative about the engineering "shortage", I stumbled upon this video back in February of this year. You might find it interesting...
Due to the high number of "takes" in the video footage, I time stamped the video to start at 13:26. There are still a lot of "takes" from that point on, but watch through to the end.
miSci - museum of innovation and science - Engineer Shortage - 1955:
https://youtu.be/TWJ2zlJFl8w?si=HhjnPWEv_8JDv-nF&t=806
Thank you. I archived your excellent 26-page long overview article on H-1b, OPT, etc. at https://btt1024media.substack.com/p/part-1-h-1b-opt-h-4ead-l-1-b-1-and I look forward to your upcoming article(s.)
Now it is OPT which is the big threat. OPT is uncapped. H-1B has a limit of number of positions.
I agree. See the section on OPT in Sold Out: How High-Tech Billionaires & Bipartisan Beltway Crapweasels Are Screwing America's Best & Brightest Workers Hardcover – November 10, 2015
by Michelle Malkin, John Miano. https://www.amazon.com/Sold-Out-Billionaires-Bipartisan-Crapweasels/dp/1501115944 OPT was promoted by a Microsoft lobbyist to circumvent the H-1b Visa annual cap.
Related to the corporate narrative about the engineering "shortage", I stumbled upon this video back in February of this year. You might find it interesting...
Due to the high number of "takes" in the video footage, I time stamped the video to start at 13:26. There are still a lot of "takes" from that point on, but watch through to the end.
miSci - museum of innovation and science - Engineer Shortage - 1955:
https://youtu.be/TWJ2zlJFl8w?si=HhjnPWEv_8JDv-nF&t=806
Excellent. You leave off 3 points:
1) OPT workers are exempt from FICA tax - SS and medicare. These are under huge pressure right now in getting enough funds to cover obligations. By giving these jobs to foreign workers, SS and medicare are further damaged.
2) OPT is a time-limited program. You only get 1-3 years on it. This is a huge advantage for many firms. Rather than having to promote people and pay them more, there is a natural "churn" which brings in more and more cheap workers. They never have to pay workers a fair wage.
3) If a person is on an H-1B, and fails to get a renewal, they can go back to school and get on OPT.
You are spot on. Trying to keep these to just under 1k words is the challenge.
You can't lump all engineering degrees together. They are very different disciplines with very different employment statistics. Civil engineers are booming and in demand and not very impacted by h1bs. Software engineering curriculum various greatly between schools and graduate employment reflects that. Just two examples.
While I agree with all your points, I must ask, how is it that we don't have 180,000 entry level engineering positions every year (enough to cover immigration and new grads)? Surely in a country of almost 350million, that many must be retiring every year. If you look at other countries that are similarly autonomous like the US, they graduate far more scientists and engineers per year. I just left the field of patent law, and the average age of a patent lawyer is 55; the field is hiring up science PHDs like crazy to replace retirees. The rest of engineering fields should be like this.
All the smartest STEM students I knew left STEM and worked in law, finance, or actuarial positions. We need more top 10% intelligence people to choose STEM, not less. The issue is salary. In many cases, business degrees make more than STEM. So we have a chicken and egg IMO. Did immigration kill salaries and force the best engineers out of doing engineering, or did the USA stop doing great engineering and stopped needing top tier engineers and so those went elsewhere? I think US policy killed the demand side for engineers far more than flooded the supply. Scientists and engineers in the US didn't used to go and do university research, but I know when I graduated with a physics degree that's the only place I could go. The US has stopped hiring engineers and scientists.
Ross Perot said it best, "the brains always follows the manufacturing." But this is more than that. Engineering jobs entry level and advanced exist here. The numbers of foreigners alone speaks to whay college graduates with engineering degrees are not getting hired.