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Show Us The Workers -- Here You Go

Sunday, October 16, 2011 1:51

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“Show Us The Workers – U.S. Employers Struggle to Fill Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (“STEM”) Positions” is a published challenge made by Shanon R. Stevenson, of Fisher & Phillips LLP, a group of immigration attorneys in Atlanta, Georgia to disprove the ”shortage of STEM workers” propaganda. In her 2 page PDF document, Ms. Stevenson references a DOL publication, Foreign Labor Certification Annual Report, which is where I discovered the data for Table 2 and Table 3 of this document.
Ms. Stevenson writes:　
Generally, when a firm is looking for new STEM talent, they look to the colleges, here’s a table of the degrees conferred in areas that are rich in STEM cirruculm for 2008 and 2009.

“Despite the recession, the lack of jobs and the training fees charged to U.S. employers hiring foreign workers on temporary H-1B work visas, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (“USDOL”) recently released Foreign Labor Certification Annual Report shows that U.S. employers are still struggling to find qualified U.S. workers in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (“STEM”). Employers report recruiting for STEM positions for over two years in hopes of ultimately finding a qualified U.S. worker – often resulting in the employer losing lucrative contracts or having to resort to using contract workers.”

Table 1.
NCES U.S. Citizen and Permanent Resident STEM Degrees Conferred 2008 and 2009

Year: 2009, 2008
Citizenship (standardized): U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents
Academic Discipline, 2-digit Classification of Instructional Program (CIP)	Doctorate Degrees	Doctorate Degree-Research Scholarship	Master’s Degrees	Bachelor’s Degrees	Associate’s Degrees	Total 2008 and 2009
03 Natural Resources and Conservation	585	208	4,802	19,033	2,388	27,016
04 Architecture and Related Services	143	88	10,795	19,267	1,125	31,418
10 Communications Technologies/Technicians and Support Services	6		752	9,760	8,904	19,422
11 Computer and Information Sciences and Support Services	974	423	19,387	73,795	57,910	152,489
14 Engineering	4,136	2,410	38,459	131,645	4,373	181,023
15 Engineering Technologies/Technicians	54	7	4,444	29,557	60,724	94,786
26 Biological and Biomedical Sciences	6,979	2,800	16,305	155,964	4,482	186,530
27 Mathematics and Statistics	1,001	456	6,349	29,343	1,698	38,847
40 Physical Sciences	3,798	1,824	8,376	42,710	3,874	60,582
41 Science Technologies/Technicians	5		45	599	2,817	3,466
51 Health Professions and Related Clinical Sciences	12,245	2,263	116,062	230,794	323,051	684,415

Degrees Conferred	29,926	10,479	225,776	742,467	471,346	1,479,994

From the Foreign Labor Certification Annual Report the occupations with more than 1000 permanent residence (Labor Certifications) are shown in Table 2, with the Office of Employment Statistics employment levels and Loss Gain.

Table 2.
TOP PERM Labor Certifications and Employment by Occupation.

OCC_Code	OCCUPATIONS WITH MORE THAN 1,000 PERMANENT LABOR CERTIFICATIONS	Number of Certifications	OES Emploment May 2010	OES Employment May 2009	Employment Loss Gain
15-1031	Computer Software Engineers, Applications	9,854	499,280	495,500	3,780
15-1051	Computer Systems Analysts	5,695	495,800	512,720	(16,920)
15-1032	Computer Software Engineers,Systems Software	4,038	378,920	385,200	(6,280)
11-3021	Computer and Information Systems Managers	1,893	288,660	287,210	1,450
17-2072	Electronics Engineers,Except Computer	1,738	133,660	135,990	(2,330)
13-2011	Accountants and Auditors	1,595	1,072,490	1,106,980	(34,490)
15-1021	Computer Programmers	1,536	333,620	3678,80	(34,260)
15-2031	Operations Research Analysts	1,432	62,210	60,960	1,250
19-3021	Market Research Analysts*	1,233	Non Equiv. SOC	Non Equiv. SOC	N/A
35-2014	Cooks, Restaurant	1,115	901,310	898,820	2,490
17-2141	Mechanical Engineers	1,074	234,400	232,660	1,740
13-2051	Financial Analysts	1,042	220,810	235,240	(14,430)
15-1071	Network and Computer Systems Administrators*	1,034	Non Equiv. SOC	Non Equiv. SOC	N/A
17-2071	Electrical Engineers	1,003	148,770	151,660	(2,890)

	Employment Loss Gain				(100,890)

“Non Equiv. SOC” Represents Standard Occupational Classifications that have substantially changed from 2009, to the 2010 NAICS standard.

Again, from the Foreign Labor Certification Annual Report in Table 3. the Top 10 Prevailing Wage Determination for foreign workers is displayed and mapped to the 2009 to 2010 employment levels and a Loss Gain column.

Table 3.
TOP Prevailing Wage Determinations and Employment by Occupation.

Wage	Prevailing Wage Determinations Most Frequent Users	Num of PWD	OES Emploment May 2010	OES Employment May 2009	Employment Loss Gain
$41.30	Computer Software Engineers, Applications	9,282	499,280	495,500	3,780
$37.16	Computer Systems Analysts	3,330	495,800	512,720	(16,920)
$44.36	Computer Software Engineers, Systems Software	3,092	378,920	385,200	(6,280)
$42.44	Electronics Engineers,Except Computer	1,582	133,660	135,990	(2,330)
$28.87	Physical Therapists	1,441	180,280	174,490	5,790
$60.29	Computer and Information Systems Managers	1,412	288,660	287,210	1,450
$9.57	Landscaping and Groundskeepers	1,240	829,350	859,960	(30,610)
$35.30	Mechanical Engineers	1,239	234,400	232,660	1,740
$42.84	Financial Analysts	1,143	220,810	235,240	(14,430)
$32.52	Computer Programmers	1,101	333,620	367,880	(34,260)

	Employment Loss Gain				(92,070)

So, Ms. Stevenson, if there is demand for your immigration services, it isn’t because there is a shortage of U.S. citizen or permanent resident candidates. In the aggregate we have lost about 100,000 jobs in these “shortage” occupations. Even within the “growth” occupations, in almost all cases, foreign labor applicants exceeded employment growth; this fact absolutely disproves the labor shortage thesis.

For instance, within Computer Software Engineers, Applications, if 9,282 immigrants were added to the employment roles and the employment levels only rose by 3,780 there are 5,502 Computer Software Engineers, Applications specialists who are now unemployed.

Table 4:
Occupational Majors: Employment Levels

OCC_CODE	Occupational Title	GROUP	Employment 2010	Employment 2009	Employment 2008
00-0000	*All Occupations*	total	127,097,160	130,647,610	135,185,230
11-0000	Management Occupations	major	6,022,860	6,116,380	6,152,650
13-0000	Business and Financial Operations Occupations	major	6,090,910	6,063,670	6,135,520
15-0000	Computer and Mathematical Occupations	major	3,283,950	3,303,690	3,308,260
17-0000	Architecture and Engineering Occupations	major	2,305,530	2,412,730	2,521,630
19-0000	Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations	major	1,064,510	1,308,380	1,296,840
21-0000	Community and Social Service Occupations	major	1,901,180	1,891,320	1,861,750
23-0000	Legal Occupations	major	992,650	999,020	1,003,270
25-0000	Education, Training, and Library Occupations	major	8,457,870	8,488,740	8,451,250
27-0000	Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations	major	1,716,640	1,745,670	1,804,940
29-0000	Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	major	7,346,580	7,200,950	7,076,800
31-0000	Healthcare Support Occupations	major	3,962,930	3,886,690	3,779,280
33-0000	Protective Service Occupations	major	3,187,810	3,172,420	3,128,960
35-0000	Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations	major	11,027,340	11,218,260	11,438,550
37-0000	Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance Occupations	major	4,175,550	4,269,480	4,429,870
39-0000	Personal Care and Service Occupations	major	3,425,220	3,461,910	3,437,520
41-0000	Sales and Related Occupations	major	13,437,980	13,715,050	14,336,430
43-0000	Office and Administrative Support Occupations	major	21,503,800	22,336,450	23,231,750
45-0000	Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Occupations	major	408,040	419,200	438,490
47-0000	Construction and Extraction Occupations	major	5,072,530	5,751,630	6,548,760
49-0000	Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Occupations	major	4,928,960	5,114,150	5,374,850
51-0000	Production Occupations	major	8,236,340	8,927,130	9,919,120
53-0000	Transportation and Material Moving Occupations	major	8,547,980	8,844,700	9,508,750

Table 5:
Occupational Majors: Employment Loss Gain

OCC_CODE	Occupational Title	Loss Gain 2009-2010	Loss Gain 2008-2010
00-0000	*All Occupations*	(3,550,450)	(8,088,070)
11-0000	Management Occupations	(93,520)	(129,790)
13-0000	Business and Financial Operations Occupations	27,240	(44,610)
15-0000	Computer and Mathematical Occupations	(19,740)	(24,310)
17-0000	Architecture and Engineering Occupations	(107,200)	(216,100)
19-0000	Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations	(243,870)	(232,330)
21-0000	Community and Social Service Occupations	9,860	39,430
23-0000	Legal Occupations	(6,370)	(10,620)
25-0000	Education, Training, and Library Occupations	(30,870)	6,620
27-0000	Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations	(29,030)	(88,300)
29-0000	Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	145,630	269,780
31-0000	Healthcare Support Occupations	76,240	183,650
33-0000	Protective Service Occupations	15,390	58,850
35-0000	Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations	(190,920)	(411,210)
37-0000	Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance Occupations	(93,930)	(254,320)
39-0000	Personal Care and Service Occupations	(36,690)	(12,300)
41-0000	Sales and Related Occupations	(277,070)	(898,450)
43-0000	Office and Administrative Support Occupations	(832,650)	(1,727,950)
45-0000	Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Occupations	(11,160)	(30,450)
47-0000	Construction and Extraction Occupations	(679,100)	(1,476,230)
49-0000	Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Occupations	(185,190)	(445,890)
51-0000	Production Occupations	(690,790)	(1,682,780)
53-0000	Transportation and Material Moving Occupations	(296,720)	(960,770)

	Employment Loss Gain	(3,550,460)	(8,088,080)