IT Workforce Still Concern For Congress

By Lisa Thompson

High-tech companies having trouble finding qualified job applicants have once again asked Congress to help remedy the situation by lifting the cap on H-1B visas that permit them to import skilled workers from abroad. Legislation introduced this summer by Senator Phil Gramm (R-Texas), the New Workers for Economic Growth Act (S. 1440), would raise the annual limit to 200,000 for the period 2000-2002. Last November the cap for 1999-2001 was raised from the baseline 65,000 to 115,000 per year, and all of this year's visas were claimed by June. The Gramm bill would also repeal the earnings test that reduces Social Security benefits for some seniors who continue working.

Last year's action was highly controversial and only succeeded at the end of the Congressional session by being buried in a huge omnibus funding bill. The Administration typically opposes lifting caps on immigration and would prefer homegrown measures to meet the rising demand for information technology workers.

In a June report, "The Digital Work Force: Building Infotech Skills at the Speed of Innovation," the Department of Commerce suggests a number of new approaches for attracting Americans into IT jobs and training them adequately: Businesses are called on to expand worker training programs; universities are urged to better address the needs of the future IT workforce; and a national information and advertising campaign to improve the image of technical jobs is proposed. Further information is available at http://www.ta.doc.gov/PRel/pr063099.htm. Another idea being circulated for the easing of corporate difficulties in acquiring needed worker skills is the establishment of a technology training tax credit program. Senator Kent Conrad (D-North Dakota) and Representative Jim Moran (D-Virginia) have introduced similar bills that would allow employers a credit against income tax of twenty percent of their qualified information technology training expenses. Mr. Conrad's proposal was offered as an amendment to a broader tax bill but failed on a 46-54 vote.