U.S. Senator and presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton continued to court Indian business leaders last week by reiterating her call for more H-1B visas and said Americans need to prepare for technology careers.
Clinton spoke via satellite to 4000 attendees of the Indian Institutes of Technology global conference in Santa Clara, Calif. The conference reunited IIT graduates. With an almost three percent acceptance rate, IIT produces top scientists, engineers and future CEO’s. As a group, they are small but potentially influential in American politics, experts say. Indian Americans comprise less than one-percent of the U.S. population but have the highest annual household income of any ethnic group, almost $71,000 dollars, experts say.
According to ABC coverage of the speech, Dilip Venkatachari, Google Dir. of Products, Mobile Ads said: “A recent study indicated that 35-40% of all the jobs created in the Bay Area during the last economic cycle were contributed to by companies that were either funded or led by IIT alumni” At least 20% of IIT graduates come to the United States to work. While many settle here permanently, the issue of outsourcing jobs overseas hits home. In her speech, Sen. Clinton had to balance that hot topic without alienating her audience.” Indeed she walked a fine line.
While advocating increased H-1Bs, she also said: “If the United States continues to outsource jobs to India in increasingly large numbers, people will begin to feel insecure. There is a better way with leadership in the public and private sectors.”According to an IDG News report: Offshoring eliminates good-paying jobs in the U.S. and threatens the middle class, she said. While the U.S. accounts for only 5% of the world’s population, it accounts for about 20% of the world’s gross domestic product, a measure of economic activity. “Countries around the world rely on our marketplace and Americans are literally fueling economic growth throughout the world,” Clinton said. “We can promote shared prosperity and a race to the top, not to the bottom.
“Rather than just sell to Americans, foreign companies should establish business operations in the U.S., which has a highly educated and highly productive workforce and efficient capital markets, Clinton said.
“I have serious concerns about creating good jobs right here in the United States.”The H-1B program continues to draw fire, even though it is politically dead as it was part of the recently quashed immigration bill. Recent coverage of that now notorious video clip showing a bunch of lawyers on a panel advising their audience members on how to cheat the H-1B visa system has reignited the battle.
A recent letter to my colleague Paul McNamara at Buzzblog gives another view of the H-1B issue from an actual visa recipient.
