BUSINESS FROM
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executives, managers, and "workers with specialized knowledge" to temporary assignments at US.-based facilities. The visa was established in 1970 as a tool for enhancing global competitiveness. Critics, however, say the definition of specialized knowledge is broad enough to allow workers with general scientific backgrounds to come to the U.S. without the VICTORIA G I L M A N , C&EN WASHINGTON hiring company having to assess the availability of similarly qualified domestic sciforce. In the past few years, the telecomTATISTICS CAN BE A POWERFUL entists and engineers. tool for proving a point, but munications revolution has allowed comIn an official statement, ACS acknowlwhat if the available numbers panies to move other jobs, such as those in edges its concern about abuse of the L-1B suggest conflicting scenarios? scientific research and development, that visa and calls for legislators to make changes On one hand, data show a derequire advanced technical education. protecting US. workers, including clarifycline in domestic students pursuing doc"Today we live in a world where capital, ing the définition of specialized knowledge torate degrees in chemistry and thus a need information, and goods move freely and to lift restrictions on foreign-born Ph.D. quickly" Chamot said. Companies are com- and creating a process for reporting and responding to abuses. chemists who want to work in the U.S. On peting on an international scale and are thus the other hand, data show unemployment On the other side of the spectrum are attracted to international supplies of cheap rates for U.S. chemists at their highest levemployers who worry about finding labor in an effort to reduce costs while reels in the past 30 years (C&EN, Aug. 16, enough skilled labor to meet demand as maining productive. page 26). ζ domestic interest in studying 5 the physical sciences declines. Adding to the confusion is de< D. Ronald Webb, manager of bate over the use and abuse of £ doctoral recruiting and universitwo visa types that allow foreign Ϊ ty relations for Procter & Gamnationals to hold jobs at U.S.o ble, said at the symposium that based offices. Resolving these is| during the past 20 years, the sues means weighing the needs number of U.S. students earning of U.S. industry to compete globdoctorates in chemistry has de ally against the health of doclined by Wo per year. Mean mestic employment during what while, tighter visa policies and in has been dubbed a jobless ecocreased delays have precipitated nomic recovery a dramatic decline in the num Representatives from governber of foreign chemistry students ment, industry and special interapplying to U.S. schools. est groups presented both sides of the argument at last month's "Where will the workforce American Chemical Society na- LISTENING Webb (standing) takes a question as organizers come from if this trend contin tional meeting in Philadelphia Chris Bannochie (center) and Lynne Greenblatt observe. ues?" Webb asked. When quesduring a symposium titled "Visa tioned why industry couldn't fill and Global Outsourcing Needs of, and Imits demand with the many currently unem Using data from the Commerce Depacts on, the Chemical Process Industries," ployed domestic chemists, Webb answered partment's Bureau of Economic Analysis, sponsored by the Division of Professional that most of the chemists looking for work Chamot estimated that, between 1988 and Relations. now are higher level professionals. P&G has 2004, the discrepancy between the numa culture ofpromotion from within, so most ber of overseas jobs created by U.S. multiOn one end of the spectrum stand inof its external hires are new graduates. The national companies and jobs created in the dustry observers who fear that domestic U.S., he said, needs to maintain a good bal US. by foreign multinationals has resulted chemists are losing ground to skilled workin a net loss of nearly 1 million jobs within ance between domestic and foreign appli ers from countries such as India and China cants to ensure that companies can hire the the U.S. who are hired to work in the U.S. in tembest graduating chemists. porary positions. Current visa policies, they say are being abused by recruiters to bring Recruiters, Webb said, are particularly A NEW THREAT to the domestic workin foreign workers —and pay them low concerned about the limited availability of force debated by the speakers is that some salaries—even when domestic candidates the Η-IB category visa, a type of visa de multinationals appear to be using avisa loopare available. signed to allow foreign workers with ad hole to hire foreign workers for positions vanced degrees in a "specialty occupation" at US.-based companies. Critics ofthe pracDennis Chamot, associate executive dito hold a job in the U.S. for three to six tice contend that companies are attracted rector of the Division on Engineering & years. If foreign students are hired by a U.S. to skilled labor from abroad because forPhysical Sciences at the National Research company after graduation, they usually eign workers who depend on them for visa Council of the National Academies, noted convert from a student visa to an Η-IB visa sponsorship will accept lower salaries than that numerous chemical manufacturing jobs before considering permanent residency. their domestic counterparts will. have already been lost to "offshoring"— Unlike the L-1B program, Η-IB visa pe moving jobs and even whole facilities to lowThe L-1B visa is a category used by multititions have special requirements in place er wage countries to tap into the local labor national companies to transfer their own
BALANCING ACT
Visa rules spark debate over recruiting foreign nationals during high U.S. unemployment
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to curb abuse. Employers, for one, must prove that they have thoroughly searched the local job market before seeking an in ternational candidate. They must also file a Labor Condition Application, a docu ment showing that the wage rate for an H1B candidate will be on a par with the pre vailing domestic wage for the job and that potential coworkers are aware of the for eign hire and won't be adversely affected. THE PROBLEM, Webb said, is that the number of new Η-IB visas that the U.S. government can issue each year is capped, another restriction not associated with the L-1B program. For fiscal 2004, which be gan last October, a maximum of 65,000 Η-IB visas were available, and that limit was reached by mid-February New visa pe titioners could begin filing in April, but ap proved petitioners couldn't hold a U.S. job until Oct. 1, the start of fiscal 2005. Even when the annual cap was as high as 195,000 in fiscal 2000, industry em ployers were pursuing more foreign ap plicants than they could hire. Lobbyists concerned about the poor domestic em ployment situation in the U.S. prompted
Congress to lower the cap in fiscal 2003. The truth, as with most polarized issues, might lie somewhere in the middle. Jeffrey W Pitts, a senior attorney in the NewJer sey office of Fragomen, Del Rey Bernsen & Loewy a law firm that specializes in global business immigration, stat ed that in the post-Sept. 11, 2001, climate, the long-term goals for the U.S. have be come homeland security and advancement of the econo my iCWc want to protect U.S. citizens and their jobs, but we don't want to impede ideas from foreign nation als," he said. Foreign nationals, Pitts said, understand the need for changes to U.S. visa policy and are willing to cooperate. Pitts They recognize that measures such as biométrie identifiers and tracking databases are important security tools. However, several glitches need to be addressed to make the visa system more efficient so that foreign applicants and the companies hiring them are not deterred.
Parallel fluorous purification
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Unemployed U.S. chemists and graduating job seekers can sharpen certain skills to better compete with foreign talent. "The world is becoming an international marketplace," said John K. Borchardt, a freelance writer and chemiz cal consultant who serves | on the ACS Membership < Affairs Committee. 'An in° dividual's technical advan> tages are increasingly fleetΞ ing—you need to worry χ more about combining chemistry with other skills to strengthen your com petitive advantage." Job seekers today are encouraged to focus on de veloping soft skills such as effective communication, teamwork, leadership, and business acumen, Borchardt said. He advises them to attend conferences and social events and read to stay abreast of both research and business trends. Such skills not only increase employees'value, he said, but also prepare them for alternative careers in an age of decreased job security •
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