US workers denied access to 50,000 jobs

[Robert Oak]

Are U.S. workers second-string IT hires?
Why is the Department of Labor keeping U.S. citizens from having equal access to more than 50,000 IT jobs?

Reality Check, By Ephraim Schwartz
August 23, 2005

Why is the Department of Labor refusing to post on its Web site a database of more than 50,000 job openings — many for IT workers — for 2006? Are they precluded by law to do so, as a DOL spokesperson claims?


This issue is part of a controversy currently raging between the DOL and professional organizations such as the Programmers Guild about the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS, formerly the Department of Immigration and Naturalization) H-1B visa quota for 2006.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/08/23/35OPreality_1.html

[noahmijo]

1. I am an IT worker or was I've been laid off twice in a year

Once from IBM and from the local govt.

I've got a BS degree in MIS and I'm currently going back to school to get some more education (truthfully I lack some necessary experience for most of the network engineer/security type jobs that I want)

But this is just BULLSHIT. I don't even want to read the rest of this article. I don't blame India either I BLAME YOU US YOU for allowing greedy profiteering motherfucker CEO's and boards to save a few extra mink coat dollars for your yenta wives by thumping your fucking snout at the American IT worker.

[FloridaPat]

2. I've been laid off since January. 25 years experience. Down the

tubes. I am totally pissed. I have friends that haven't had jobs in years.

[noahmijo]

3. What do you think of the feeling that IT will be up again

Sometime around 08-10? supposedly the demand for skilled IT workers is about to come back but with declining numbers of IT students enrollment in IS and Computer Sci there's a theory that we might experience another mid 90's tech revolution.....I'm not fully naive to think that they won't try to recruit India first but still what about for IT jobs that nearly require that the worker be present at the job site like network engineering or forensics/security?

[FloridaPat]

4. I'm 4 years from social security. I don't care. Frankly I will be suprised

we even have a country then the way these creeps are ruining everything.

[ramapo]

6. Not in this country

Not unless there is a great deal of worker unrest, which is unlikely. I'm in IT and don't know of one major company that doesn't offshore software development. The trend is accelerating too.

I also see system, network, and even SAN admin jobs going offshore in large global corporations. A couple of low-level operators are left to push buttons. QA and testing is another area being spun offshore.

We've come a long way baby. It's not easy to destroy a profession.

[Robert Oak]

5. There are a lot of activist sites

on this issue. If you want to do something with your outrage, may I suggest joining one and getting active.

There are a lot of people very angry, aware, but there isn't any
real solidarity and a formation of a workers rights movement in white collar to date.

[theboz]

7. I.T. Sucks

I am a programmer. A consultant in fact. I have traveled around from state to state for different jobs over periods of months where I end up staying in a hotel for a while and getting paid lots of money. I have no shortage of potential jobs, and usually get anywhere from 1 to 3 calls a day, along with many emails.

HOWEVER!!!

Employers are demanding more, and often they are making unreasonable job offers. Multiple times I've had job offers where it would actually pay less than the price it would cost me to live there. Often they try to bring me in for a one month job, but refuse to pay extra for such a short term contract. I often have to pay for my own hotel and such, which results in me not being paid very well when you're spending $10k a month on Residence Inn (I tried a cheaper place once, but got attacked by bed bugs.) I also haven't been to any training in years because nowhere wants to hire me long enough to send me to training.

My point is that there are still good jobs out there, but they're not as good as they used to be. I also don't think that the constant need to spend lots of money to make lots is such a good deal either, and the constant re-learning each new version of whatever it is that you work with is a huge pain. To put it simply, system administrators are little more than computer janitors. Programmers are the lunch ladies of the computer industry. There's very little innovation anymore, and very little worth doing in it. I'm getting tired of it, and I'd suggest that nobody go into the I.T. industry anymore, even if they do have a chance at a job.

[area51]

8. kick (n/t)