Economic News 2000 May

updated: 2013-12-04

2000-05-01

2000-05-02

2000-05-03

2000-05-04

2000-05-05

2000-05-06

2000-05-07

2000-05-08

2000-05-09

2000-05-10

2000-05-11

2000-05-11
Michael Hammer _U of Arizona News_
Jewish, Arabic people are genetic brothers
"Specific regions of the Y chromosome were analyzed in 1,371 men from 29 worldwide populations, including Jews and non-Jews from the Middle East, North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, and Europe.   The study, published in the May 9 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that Jewish men shared a set of common genetic signatures with non-Jews from the Middle East, including Palestinians, Syrians, and Lebanese, and these signatures diverged significantly from those of non-Jewish men outside of this region.   Consequently, Jews and Arabs share a common ancestor and are more closely related to one another than to non-Jews from other areas of the world."

2000-05-12

2000-05-13

2000-05-14

2000-05-14
Merlyn Oliver
Seven Paths to Pay Dirt

2000-05-14
_MakoVision_/_San Jose Mercury News_
More Dot-Com Companies Announce Lay-Offs
 

2000-05-15

2000-05-16

2000-05-16
Ron Eckstein _Legal Times_
Black Professionals Assail Visa Increases: H1-B bill designed to ease need to hire US tech workers

2000-05-17

2000-05-18

2000-05-19

2000-05-19
Carrie Kirby _San Francisco Chronicle_ pg B1
No Shortage of Experience: Some Seasoned Technology Workers Say They've Been Unfairly Passed over by Silicon Valley Companies Looking to Fill Jobs

2000-05-19
Greg Tarpinian _Labor Research Association_
As Employment Shifts, Job Security Shrinks
"Over the past 12 months, manufacturing lost 101K jobs that pay on average around $15 an hour, according to the DoL.   If you look back farther, more than 500K workers in the manufacturing sector have been lost jobs since 1998 March...   why should a company such as Huffy pay unionized workers in Celina, Ohio, $17 in wages and benefits to make bicycles, when it can find much cheaper labor over-seas?   Huffy agrees.   In 1998 July, the company laid off 850 workers in Ohio and moved the jobs to [Red China], where it pays workers as little as 33-cents an hour.   But for many laid-off workers, the road to better jobs and wages is a dead end...   millions of the new jobs are in low-wage, low-skill occupations.   According to the DoL, over the past 12 months, WM, McDonald's, and other retail-trade and fast-food businesses created 436K jobs that pay on average $9 an hour and provide few benefits..."
 

2000-05-20

2000-05-21

2000-05-21
Jim Barnett _Huntsville Times_
Tech firms balk at conditions: House panel votes to allow hiring of foreigners
"But the bill passed by Judiciary Wednesday contains provisions that the industry finds unacceptable.   Chief among them are requirements that workers be paid at least $40K a year [well below the median for science and tech workers] and that job descriptions be posted on the Internet...   For each foreign worker hired, a company would have to contribute $4,500 to a scholarship...   [House member David] Wu [D-OR] has been under fire from high-tech lobbyists for his staunch refusal to grant permanent normal trading relations to [Red China]."

2000-05-21
Lawrence M. Lebowitz _Pittsburgh Post-Gazette_
We need the cheap and easily brow-beaten
"In 1997 and 1998, the H-1B cap was 65K, and the ceiling was reached in 11 months and 7 months, respectively.   While Congress raised the cap to 115K for 1999 and 2000, last year the ceiling was reached in 6 months.   This year, it was reached on March 21 -- a full 6 months before the end of the fiscal year.   This essentially places a foreign worker hiring freeze for all U.S. companies that desperately need highly skilled talent.   Further complicating matters, the cap is scheduled to drop to 107K for next year, and to 65K for 2002..."

2000-05-21
_California Job Journal_
Tough Market for Grads
 

2000-05-22

2000-05-23

2000-05-24

2000-05-25

2000-05-25
Frank Brehm
U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Sub-committee on Immigration and Claims
 

2000-05-25
Alan B. Krueger _Pop.Stop_/_NY Times_
ReThinking the Economics of Immigration

2000-05-26

2000-05-27

2000-05-28

2000-05-28
_Detroit News_
More time spent filling top jobs
"Employers filling vacancies left by managers & executives are spending 40% more time doing so than they did 2 years ago, according to data collected by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a Chicago-based employment consulting firm.   In the first quarter of 2000, the median length of time it took to recruit a new employee was 3.58 months.   During the same quarter in 1998, the median length of time was 2.55 months...   Challenger Gray CEO John Challenger offers another explanation: pickiness.   'Employers may be shifting from the hire-any-warm-body policy, despite ongoing labor shortages, since they likely found such decisions harmful to productivity & expansion plans rather than helpful.', he said."

2000-05-28
_Detroit News_
High-tech work-force keeps growing
"The nation's high technology work-force has grown by 1.2M people since 1993, hitting 5M last year, according to a new industry report.   California boasted the most technology jobs... Texas... Colorado... Virginia... Georgia"

2000-05-28
Karen Brandon _Chicago Tribune_
Visas for high-tech foreign workers debated -- Critics say ploys used to pay less
 

2000-05-29

2000-05-30

2000-05-31

2000 May
B. Lindsay Lowell
H-1B Temporary Workers: Estimating the Population (pdf with graphs)
"And while tightening up the H-1B classification in many areas, the bill recognized that many employers hired non-immigrants with a dual intent, i.e., as temporary workers at the moment and as potential permanent additions to their work forces.   The legislation permitted entry of non-immigrant H-1B workers who may possess both an intent to work temporarily and to immigrate permanently at some future time.   The legislation, therefore, limited the duration of H-1B status to 6 years (an increase of one year over the prior temporary stay).   At the same time, IMMACT90 removed the language in the H-1 statutory description that required that the H-1B have 'a residence in a foreign country which he has no intention of abandoning'.   In effect, the new legislation continued the H-1B as a temporary work authorization program.   Yet, by removing the requirement of temporary intent, the H-1B differs from other non-immigrant visas and implicitly encourages a transition to permanent residency...
 
by 1990 just over half of the employers of H-1s reported that the job was intended to continue permanently (GAO 1992)...
 
Employers must attest that no US workers are laid off for the 3 months before and the 3 months after hiring of the H-1B.   And employers must attest that they have made significant steps to recruit US workers.   These protections will come off in 3 years when the number falls back to 65K unless a new cap is voted on.   However, some critics believe that exemptions to the definition may mean that very few firms may be classified as dependent..."
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2000 May
_Center for Community Economic Development, UWisc_
Measuring Job Security

2000 May
Sheryl Silver _New Jersey_
Starting Salaries for New Grads NACE

IS	$44,096
CS	$48,468
ComputerE	$48,280
EEE	$47,403
Accounting	$37,208
Economics & Finance	$38,210
Marketing	$33,760
Literature	$29,830
Communications	$29,916