Friday, May 23, 2014

STEM workers

NumbersUSA Newsletter
Week
of
May
23

  This Issue: Employment and wage data show there's no shortage of U.S. STEM workers, according to new study


This weekend, we remember the Americans and legal immigrants who gave their lives to protect our freedoms and make our country great. So, it's fitting that your efforts over the last month paid off this week when House leaders officially rejected a plan that would provide the dwindling number of spots in our military to illegal aliens who could then cash in on an amnesty. If recent reports are accurate, it also appears that the Senate will omit the proposal from its version of the defense authorization bill.
Unfortunately, millions of Americans for whom our fallen veterans died enter this holiday weekend unemployed and underemployed while their top political leaders aggressively seek to give more U.S. jobs to foreign workers.
One of the areas where there's a widespread consensus in Congress is on the claimed need for more highly-skilled foreign workers. But a new study from the Center for Immigration Studies found there is no shortage of these workers despite the mounting pressure from the business community.
Using data from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, CIS determined that there are more than 6 million native-born Americans with degrees in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) that are either working in another field or not working at all. CIS further found that more than 2 million immigrants in the U.S. with STEM degrees are either working in another field or not working at all, hardly a sign that more are needed.
CIS also analyzed recent immigrant arrivals and found that from 2007 to 2012, the U.S. admitted 700,000 new immigrants with STEM degrees, but the number of STEM jobs in the United States only grew by 500,000.
The study went beyond just the number of jobs and available workers and dove into wages for STEM workers. For most STEM jobs, wages rose only slightly from 2000 to 2012. For example, a worker in the computer science field made just under $83,000 in 2000, but only makes just under $86,000 in 2012 - that's an increase of only 0.3% per year. It begs the question, if there's truly a high demand for STEM workers, then why aren't wages rising at a faster rate?
You can read more details about the study on our website, which includes a link to the full study. We've also posted faxes on your Action Board to send to your three Members of Congress telling them about the new report.
Have a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend!

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