Nation & World : Monday, March 23, 1998

GAO faults study claiming high-tech workers are scarce

by William Branigin
The Washington Post
The General Accounting Office is disputing recent reports by the Commerce Department and a major trade association that describe a growing shortage of computer workers.

In a report being released today, the GAO says an influential Commerce Department study, "America's New Deficit: The Shortage of Information Technology Workers," issued in September, contains "serious analytical and methodological weaknesses" that undermine a conclusion that such a shortage exists.

The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, also criticized the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), a trade group representing 11,000 employers nationwide, for reports that raised alarms about a "severe shortage" of computer workers based on job vacancies in a sampling of companies. The GAO questioned "the reliability of ITAA's survey findings," saying they were not supported by sufficient data.

The GAO said it did not independently analyze the supply of information technology workers, and it cautioned that weaknesses in the Commerce Department's report do not necessarily mean there is no shortage. Rather, it said, additional information is needed "to more accurately characterize the IT labor market now and in the future."

Gary R. Bachula, the acting Commerce undersecretary for technology, wrote to the GAO that the report showed "clear indications of a tight labor market" for computer workers, but denied that it concluded there is a shortage and said it was "never intended to be an exhaustive analysis."

Demonstrating the existence of a worker shortage is crucial to the industry's efforts to raise a cap on a controversial visa program that allows as many as 65,000 foreign workers in "specialty occupations" to come to the United States each year for stays of up to six years.

Industry leaders and congressional supporters say the cap on the H1-B program this year is expected to be reached by May or June and that thousands more skilled foreign workers are needed immediately to keep U.S. high-tech companies on the cutting edge against global competition.

Sen. Spencer Abraham, R-Mich., chairman of the Senate immigration subcommittee, introduced legislation this month to raise the program's ceiling to 90,000 visas a year. His counterpart in the House, Rep. Lamar S. Smith, R-Tex., said he also supports an increase.

Critics, including labor advocates and some administration officials, say the H1-B program has been widely abused. High-tech employers tout it as vital in recruiting the world's "best and brightest." But it is more commonly used to hire entry-level computer programmers bound to the company that petitions for them, the critics say.

They say the industry loves the program mainly because, by increasing the supply of workers in a key sector, it helps hold down wages in a tight market.