ComputerWorld

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Report calls for greater diversity in hiring for high-tech jobs


By Patrick Thibodeau
(Jul. 13, 2000) WASHINGTON -- With the unmet demand for high-tech workers
reaching "crisis proportions," a special congressional commission said today
that women, minorities and people with disabilities are vastly
underrepresented in science and high-technology jobs, and it called on
government and private employers to do more to diversify the work force.
As the need for high-tech workers grows rapidly, the U.S. is "exhausting the
intellectual capital that is fueling our economic expansion," said Elaine
Mendoza, chairwoman of the Commission on the Advancement of Women and
Minorities in Science, Engineering and Technology. Congress formed the
commission in 1998 to study high-tech workforce issues.

The report, released as Congress debates bringing in more foreign technical
workers by raising the H-1B visa cap, analyzed what Mendoza termed
"disturbing" trends in job training and hiring that are keeping women,
minorities and people with disabilities from high-tech jobs.

For instance, racial and ethnic minorities will comprise nearly one-third of
the U.S. workforce by 2020, the report said, but Hispanics make up only 3%
of those holding high-tech jobs and African-Americans comprise 3.2%. People
with disabilities comprise nearly 14% of the workforce, but hold less than
6% of science and technology jobs.

Meanwhile, women make up only 9% of engineers and 27% of the computer
scientists and programmers in the U.S., the report said.

"Growing the American talent pool will require a nationwide call to action
and a major shift in how we educate, train and recruit citizens" in
high-tech fields, said Mendoza, president and CEO of Conceptual MindWorks
Inc., a software development firm in San Antonio.

Meta Group Inc., a Stamford, Conn.-based consulting firm, estimates that
there are 400,000 IT job openings today. The report also cited figures from
the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which said that some 5.3 million jobs
will be created in technology fields between 1998 and 2008.

The report cited wide-ranging educational, financial and cultural barriers
that keep minorities and women out of high-tech jobs, including prejudice
and an absence of mentors. The commission recommended educational reforms to
push for high-quality standards in technical areas and significantly
expanded financial help to underrepresented students. The group also called
for a public-private partnership campaign to implement the report's
recommendations.

The report was also discussed at a hearing before the House Subcommittee on
Technology. Eileen Collins, an astronaut who has been on three shuttle
missions, testified at the hearing about problems she faced as a teenager
seeking technical training. The peer pressure in high school has "an
incredible influence," and she said she was "more comfortable taking classes
with my friends then branching out to mostly male classrooms." But when she
graduated from high school, Collins said she pushed herself to pursue the
training she needed.