RESPONSE: To EPI Report regarding STEM Jobs Crisis being Overrated

STEM visa advocates criticize EPI report

Matt Evans

Reporter-The Business Journal

Not surprisingly, the report by the Economic Policy Institute released Wednesday that found plenty of workers training in science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, fields is drawing criticism from those who say there's a real shortage.

The point of the EPI study, that group said, was that there is no need to loosen the immigration restrictions on guestworkers with such skills since doing so could depress wages for U.S. workers. A group called "inSPIRE STEM USA" responded to that study by calling it "an inaccurate portrayal of America’s STEM shortage and a shortsighted unwillingness to accept the economic realities."

InSPIRE STEM USA bills itself as a coalition of companies and organizations that support a short-term increase in the number of H1-B visas provided to foreign STEM guestworkers who want to work in the U.S., and longer-term efforts to create more STEM graduates from U.S. colleges and universities.

Executive Director Beneva Schulte issued a statement saying the EPI study contradicts others that say, for example, that 120,000 new computer science jobs are expected each year through 2018, compared to 40,000 bachelor's degrees expected to be awarded in that field. That's according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the group says.

“Overall, the number of STEM graduates has increased but with the growth of technology and IT businesses in the U.S. the increase is not keeping pace with employers’ needs making the STEM crisis very real and one America cannot afford to ignore," Schulte said.

The immigration reform bill that a bipartisan group of U.S. senators has pitched and that is currently the subject of much debate in Washington is on the side of loosening visa restrictions. According to the American Association for Advancement of Science, that proposal suggests raising the number of temporary H1-B visas for skilled workers from 65,000 to 110,000, and possibly to as many as 180,000 depending on how the economy is doing.