Subject: Young Scientists' Network Digest

From: <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 21 Jun 1994 20:08:28 +0600

Thought that this was important enough to cross post to Chemistry List at OSU.
Part of YSN DIGEST of 21 June 1994

     A news digest for discussion of issues involving the employment
      of scientists, especially those just beginning their careers
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Hopefully will get through filtering process and inform the Chemistry
List of YSN.

>To: [email-masked]
>Subject: #13 #13 repost of report on immigration
>Date: Mon, 20 Jun 94 12:37:33 EDT
>From: Bob Zacher <[email-masked]>
>
>Dear YSN'ers
>
>Full Unemployment Policy for American Ph.D Scientists
>
>By Robert Zacher
>
>  Over the past several years, it has become clear that the
>employment market for new American science and engineering
>Ph.D's is very bleak [1]. This is often attributed to the downturn in
>the economy, the end of the cold war or domestic overproduction of
>Ph.D's. In fact, the effect of these factors is insignificant when
>compared to the changes brought about by the Immigration Reform
>Act of 1990. Before looking at the immigration numbers, we must
>first get an idea of the size of the job market. More precisely, the
>figure in which we are interested is the number of permanent jobs for
>Ph.D. physical scientists and engineers in the US. According to one
>study by the Federal Office of Technology Assessment [2(a)], the
>aggregate demand for Ph.D's in the scientific and engineering labor
>market is around 12,000 per year. It should be noted that this figure
>was probably determined around 1988, before the aforementioned
>downturn in support for basic research. This figure can also be
>obtained through a simple calculation. At the doctoral level, in 1988,
>there were 351,000 Ph.D scientists and 68,000 engineers[2(b)]
>employed in the U.S. Together these two groups total 419,000. If we
>assume that the average Ph.D gets his/her degree at 30 and retires at
>65, the average number of years worked is 35. Dividing the number
>of Ph.D's by 35 years also yields 12,000 permanent job openings per
>year.
>   As I will now show, the number of permanent immigration visas
>granted in 1993 to foreign Ph.D's dwarfs the number of permanent
>jobs. From my own observations, the job market for Ph.D's collapsed
>around late 1990. This is also the year of the Immigration Reform
>Act of 1990 (S. 358) which boosted the annual quota for
>employment-based visas from 54,000 to 140,000 visas. One of the
>chief reasons for boosting the quota was the belief that the US would
>face a shortage of over half a million scientists and engineers by the
>year 2000. This belief was based on a severely defective study of US
>technical manpower requirements by Peter House of the NSF. The
>actual section of immigration legislation which affects Ph.D
>employment is known as the "Immigration and Nationality Act
>Preference Allocation for Employment Based Immigrants" [4]. The
>quota of 140,000 visas is split up into 4 categories. The technical
>name for  these categories is preferences. The descriptions of the
>categories and the quotas are taken from Ref. [4]
>   The "first preference"(also known as priority 1) has a quota of
>40,000 visas per year. This category is subdivided into three groups;
>A) Aliens with extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education,
>business or athletics.
>B) Outstanding Professors and researchers.
>C) Executives and managers being transferred within a multinational
>company.
>The wording of the legislation for categories A and B of  the first
>preference makes it clear that one of the target groups is Ph.D
>scientists and researchers. In 1993, the preliminary number of visas
>granted for this category was 21,623 visas [3]. Of these, 1,259 were
>in category A and  1,676 were in category B.
>   The "second preference" (priority 2) has a quota of 40,000 visas
>per year. This category is composed solely of "Aliens who are
>members of the professions holding advanced degrees or aliens of
>exceptional ability".(Advanced degree means Ph.D or M.S. -R.Z.)It
>continues;"Visas shall be made available...to qualified immigrants
>who are members of the professions holding advanced degrees or
>their equivalent or who because of their exceptional ability in the
>sciences, arts or business, will substantially benefit the national
>economy." Another requirement is "and whose services in the
>sciences, arts, professions, or business are sought by an employer in
>the United States." One of the main groups targeted in this preference
>is also Ph.D's in science and engineering. In 1993, the preliminary
>number of visas granted for this category was 29,398 [3].  Advanced
>degree holders in this preference received 13,801 visas.
>   The "Third Priority", the final category which concerns us, is listed
>as "Skilled workers, professionals and other workers". The quota here
>is also 40,000. This priority is further broken down into 3
>subcategories.
>i) "Skilled workers...requiring at least 2 years training or experience"
>ii) "Professionals-Qualified immigrants who hold baccalaureate
>degrees and who are members of the professions". This is another
>category in which Ph.D scientists and engineers can immigrate.
>Unlike the previous two priorities, this priority is subject to the
>requirement of a "labor certification". This means that the immigrant
>must have a job promised to him before obtaining a visa.
>These first two categories (i and ii) are identified by DOL[5] as
>"Schedule A"
>iii) Other workers"- unskilled laborers. Identified by DOL as
>"Schedule B" Not to exceed 10,000 per year.  Thus, 30,000 to
>40,000s visa set aside for the Third Priority are for the Schedule A
>workers. Ref 5. Schedule A workers are then split into Group I and
>Group II [5].  Group I is composed of nurses and physical therapists.
>Group II is:
> "Aliens (except for aliens in the performing arts) of exceptional
>ability in the sciences or arts including college and university
>teachers of exceptional ability who have been practicing their science
>or art during the year prior to application and  who intend to practice
>the same science or art in the United States. For purposes of this
>group, the term 'science or art' means any field of knowledge and/or
>skill with respect to which colleges and universities commonly offer
>specialized courses leading to a degree in the knowledge and/or skill.
>An alien, however, need not have studied at a college or university in
>order to qualify for the Group II occupation"[5]. Presumably, the
>definition of 'art' here, i.e. not an artist in the normal sense, is also
>applied to the first and second preferences. Although the legislation
>states that a Ph.D is not required for admission in this category, I
>have met few college or university teachers of exceptional ability
>who did not possess one.
>  In 1993, the preliminary number of visas granted for the Third
>Priority was 93,398! "of which 41,873 were used by beneficiaries of
>the Chinese Student Protection Act" [3]. This Act was a response to
>the riots in Tiananmen Square. In my opinion, it was a fully justified
>response for humanitarian reasons. Judging from my experience, all
>of the students from China were graduate students in science or
>engineering. I think it is reasonable to assume that practically all of
>the Chinese students now possess a Ph.D. For Group II, excluding
>the Chinese students, 9,560 visas were granted. The visas granted in
>the Third Priority, excluding those granted under the Chinese
>Students Protection Act, are subject to the requirement of a Labor
>Certification'.
>  The following is  a quote from Robert Schaerfl [7], Director of the
>U.S. Employment Service, describing the process of labor
>certification;
>  "The Immigration and Nationality Act, and Immigration and
>Nationalization Service (INS) regulations require that aliens seeking
>to enter the U.S. either permanently or temporarily for the purpose of
>employment be excluded from admission unless the Department of
>Labor (DOL) certifies to INS, and the Department of State that
>qualified U.S. workers are not available, and that the alien's
>employment will not adversely affect the wages and working
>conditions of U.S. Workers similarly employed.
>   The process is known as labor certification. In order to obtain the
>labor certification, aliens, must have a U.S. employer who is willing
>to make an offer of employment an apply for a labor certification on
>behalf of the alien, including aliens with advanced degrees, is
>required to conduct a good faith  test of the labor market for
>qualified U.S. workers, and must document all efforts made to recruit
>such workers."
>   Last year, there were 30,067 applications for labor certifications.
>Of these, 24,411 were granted. This yields an approval rate of 81%
>[6]. Thus, an employer can reasonably expect that an application for
>a labor certification will result in an visa.
>  Many of the visas cited above will not go to individuals in science
>or engineering. Unfortunately, no breakdown of the preferences by
>occupation are currently available for 1993. However, numbers for
>1992 are [Ref 8] and we can use these to estimate the figure for
>1993.
>Occupation              1'st pref.      2'nd pref.     3'rd pref
>Engineers, surveyors      32             7,280          1,590
>and mapping scientists
>
>Mathematical and com-    29             1,601          607
>puter scientists
>
>Natural scientists        75             1,339          204
>
>This yields a total of 12,757. In addition to these, there were an
>additional 9,064 immigrants in these three occupational groups who
>immigrated  in other categories. However, these represent less of a
>problem since presumeably they are not as highly qualified and
>therefore may not be competing with Ph.D's for jobs. In 1992, a total
>of 51,787[3] immigrants entered with employment-based visas. In
>1993, the preliminary number is 161,220[3]. If we subtract the the
>41,873 Chinese students, since this was a one time occurrence, we
>had 109,433 visas through normal channels. This is over twice the
>figure for 1992. Thus, it is probable that in 1993, the normal
>employment-based visas granted to advanced degree holders in
>science and engineering  represent around 200% of our employment
>needs.
>   If we sum the visas granted to Advanced degree holders in 1993
>for  Preference 1 (1,259+1,676), Preference 2 (13,801),  and
>Preference 3 (9,560) yields 26,296. This is around 250% of our
>employment requirements. Adding in the 41,873 Chinese students
>yields 68,169 visas. I would estimate the error bar on this number to
>be around +_15,000. By comparison, domestically, we produce about
>14,450 S&E Ph.D.s of American nationality (1988) [2(b)].
>   The conclusion of all of this is that last year we imported around
>6.5 Ph.D's for every permanent job! One doesn't have to be a rocket
>scientist to realize that flooding the market with 6.5 workers for
>every job in an already saturated market must  "adversely affect the
>wages and working conditions of U.S. workers similarly employed".
>If we add in the roughly 1.5 U.S. Ph.D recipients per job, it can be
>seen that last year, 8 Ph.D's entered the U.S. market for each job.
>That is an 88% unemployment rate. The Immigration Reform Act of
>1990 is essentially a FULL UNEMPLOYMENT POLICY for
>American science and engineering Ph.D's. In fact, the great majority
>of imported Ph.D's will also be forced to find a new career. The
>requirement of the immigration statutes that the immigrants "intend to
>practice the same science or art in the United States" is impossible to
>fulfill since we imported many advanced degree holders for each job.
>This misguided policy has now been in effect for 3 years. Thus, in
>addition to the roughly 80,000 Ph.D's entering the job market this
>year, there is also a backlog of "marginalized" Ph.D's  not yet
>sufficiently frustrated to have given up on the search for a job in
>their field.
>   It is clear that the disastrous employment situation for Ph.D's in
>the last few years has virtually nothing to do with the end of the cold
>war, the downturn in the economy or reduced support for R&D by
>industry. These are a mere drop in the bucket compared to the effect
>of the change in the immigration law. Those elder statesmen of
>science who worry that we will not have enough qualified scientists
>to pass the torch of knowledge to future generations, or the
>politicians who worry about not having enough scientific manpower
>for our industrial economy, are like someone in the middle of a flood
>worrying if there's going to be enough rain. The conclusion of this
>report is that the majority of our brightest and hardest working
>students, after investing 10 years of post university work as poorly
>paid graduate students and then post-docs, will not find work in an
>area related to their degree. Many do not find any work at all for an
>extended period, since they are "overqualified" for jobs requiring
>lower skill levels. In the long run, when it becomes known that a
>degree in science or engineering leads not to a career, but  to the
>unemployment line, U.S citizens will stop studying science or
>engineering at the advanced degree level.
>
>
>References
>
>[1] "Black Hole Opens up in Scientist Job Rolls", Wall Street
>Journal, 4/14/93, pg.B-1. For information about physics only, see
>"The Physics Job Market: Bleak for Young Physicists", Kate Kirby
>and Roman Czujko, Physics Today, Dec 1993, pg. 22.
>
>[2]  U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, "Federally
>Funded Research: Decisions for a Decade", OTA-SET-490
>(Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, May 1991), a) p
>251,  b) p. 209,  c) p. 213.
>
>[3]  United States Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs,
>Visa Bulletin, No 29, Vol. VIII
>
>[4]  Immigration and Nationality Act, Section 203(b)
>
>[5] Code of Federal Regulations, Vol. 20, 1993, Employment and
>Training Administration, Labor, Section 656.11.
>
>[6} Department of Labor, Monthly Immigration Activities Report,
>Permanent Applications, Fiscal Year 1993.
>
>[7] Personal Communication.
>
>[8] 1992 Statistical Yearbook of the Immigration and Naturalization
>Service, US Department of Justice, pg. 67.
>
>
>
>========
>Bob Zacher                            146 Oakland Ave, Apt. 1
>[email-masked]                Arlington, MA 12174
>Phone: 617 495 7042
>
>-----------------------------
>
>End of Digest
>*************
>End of Digest
>*************
>
>