Economic News 2000 June

updated: 2016-08-14

2000-06-01

2000-06-01
Gail Russell Chaddock _Christian Science Monitor_
USA: The New Economy: Lament of the pocket-protector set: As Congress considers letting more foreigners fill high-tech jobs, software engineers rebel
 
"Linda Kilcrease has never been a political activist.   Even when she lost her software-engineering job at an insurance company in 1994, she didn't protest.   It was when the company asked her to train her replacement -- a foreign worker brought in under a government visa program -- that she became a weekend warrior.
 
'None of us realized what H-1B was.', she says of the guest-worker program.   'When I realized what was happening, I became an activist.'   Across the country, computer programmers and other high-tech workers are quietly clashing with their corporate bosses over who should fill America's 'knowledge' jobs...
 
Unlike the [Red China] trade issue, the industry bid to lift the limit on visas for foreign workers is not drawing major protests.   No big rallies outside Congress.   No saturation ad campaigns in the districts of wavering law-makers...
 
Under the 1998 law, the Labor Department was to take steps to ensure that companies don't replace American workers with foreign laborers or pay below-market wages.   This included a requirement that employers using large numbers of H-1Bs recruit American workers before hiring abroad...   In the absence of such protections, older computer programmers, as well as minorities hoping to break into the profession, could lose out, critics at the hearing said.
 
'At the same time that US high-tech employers allege a shortage of available skilled workers, this country has amassed a surprising surplus of programmers over the age of 40 who are no longer practicing their craft.', said Frank Brehm, the Northwest regional coordinator of the Programmers Guild, which opposes lifting the cap.
 
Foreigners have complaints about the H-1B program, too.   If they make their employers unhappy, they are subject to immediate deportation.   'The whole program is out of control, and there's a lot of abuse.', says SS, a software engineer who came to the US on an H-1B visa [from India] in 1991.   'A lot of Indians are working for bodyshops they can't leave, and have trouble finding work once they get their green card.'   Under the terms of an H-1B visa, foreign workers are not allowed to leave their employers for 6 years.   That status encourages employers to pay them less - or to hire them in place of more expensive US workers who are free to quit, critics say.
 
'While the industry says it needs higher skilled workers, a lot of what I see is efforts to filter out older programmers.', says Norm Matloff, professor of computer science at the University of California at Davis."
---30---
 
 

2000-06-02

2000-06-02
Andrew Leonard _Salon_
I'm tired of seeing so many dot-com lay-off stories
 

2000-06-03

2000-06-03
Douglass Krouse _Bergen NJ Daily Record_
Dun Workers Fear Layoffs
 

2000-06-04

2000-06-04
Steven Greenhouse _NY Times_
All College Graduates, Please Apply

2000-06-04
John Bolton _Arizona Daily Star_ pg D1
Notes about where we work and how we make ends meet
"Workers are seeing -- but not necessarily reporting -- widespread illegal and unethical conduct in the work-place, despite many corporate-ethics programs, according to a survey of more than 2,300 employees by KPMG LLP, New York.   More than 75% of those surveyed said they had observed violations of the law or company standards in the previous 12 months.   And while many workers..."
 

2000-06-05

2000-06-06

2000-06-07

2000-06-08

2000-06-08
_Fitug_/_Poli Tech_
Dot-Com Death Watch
 

2000-06-09

2000-06-10

2000-06-10
"This is legal human rights violation in America...   You [as an H-1B] are an indentured servant, a modern-day slave." --- Murali Devarakonda, a Director of the Immigrant Support Network said on "Straight Talk" produced by Santa Clara county Democrat Club
 

2000-06-11

2000-06-11
Infometrica Consumer Climate Indicator dipped
"Infometrica's Consumer Climate Indicator dipped slightly 0.3 points, reaching 184.4 in May, down from 184.7 in April.   Consumer climate was 177.2 one year ago.   It is expected Consumer Confidence and Consumer Sentiment to start declining in the months ahead."

2000-06-11
Rob Sanchez & Norm Matloff _Job Destruction News-Letter Special Report_
Tech Executive Gave False Testimony to US Senate Committee
 

2000-06-12

2000-06-12
Norm Matloff & Peter Brimelow _V Dare_
Immigration Axis launches Ardennes Offensive

2000-06-13

2000-06-13
Hugh Wyatt
In 2006 Q1 21% lost job on first day
"Challenger Gray & Chirstmas, a Chicago out-placement firm (they work for companies to try to find jobs for people who've been laid off), reports that in the first quarter of this year, 21% of people discharged from jobs had been let go on their first day on the job!"

2000-06-13
Jessica Yang _Salary.com_/_Vault_
Bargaining position is weak for H-1B visa holders
"The Immigration Act of 1990 set an annual cap of 65K H-1B visas.   When all 65K visas ran out for the first time in FY1997 and again in May of the following year, Congress passed the American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act of 1998 to raise the cap temporarily to 115K for FY1999, and 107,500 for FY2000.   However, the increase is apparently not large enough to offset the [demand for cheap, docile foreign labor]...   In March, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act, presented by Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), which would raise the cap to 195K visas for each of the next three years.   The House is also considering a similar bill that would lift the cap to 200K for fiscal years 2001 through 2003.   On May 11, the Clinton administration announced a proposal that would also increase the number of H-1B visas to 200K for the years 2001 through 2003...   Because the H-1B visa is employer-specific, it tends to bind the employee to the employer, in sometimes subtle ways.   For example, any change in the H-1B visa holder's employment status must be reported to the INS.   This includes change of employer, work location, job description/title, salary/compensation, and change in the legal entity of the employer (for example, after a merger or acquisition).   Because of these reporting constraints, the H-1B employee has less freedom to move about as he or she chooses than other employees.   For example, if an employee on an H-1B visa changes jobs, he or she has to inform the INS of the change by submitting an amendment, which is like starting the application over again...   the ability to offer the green card as an incentive gives the employer bargaining power over the employee."
 

2000-06-14

2000-06-15

2000-06-16

2000-06-17

2000-07-17
Robert B. Johnson/Susan E. Davis _Sructural Engineer_/_euken.net_
Re: Is the writing on the wall?
"I read with interest the article by Richard Weingardt, "Is the Handwriting on the Wall?", 2000 June, Structural Engineer.   Weingardt laments the plight of German structural engineers and warns, 'If Germany is the model, this could be a probable scenario for the U.S.A. in the future.'   I don't understand the probable.   It has already happened here and it is called H-1B!"

2000-06-18

2000-06-19

2000-06-20

2000-06-21

2000-06-22

2000-06-23
_Joint Economic Committee_
"The economic drag of excessive federal government spending over more than 20 years has cost the average worker the equivalent of $106,800, according to a recent study for the Joint Economic Committee of Congress."

2000-06-23

2000-06-23
John Cook _Seattle Post-Intelligencer_
Whatever you call them, lay-offs still hurt
"This back-lash from the venture capital community is understandable.   After all, as the stock market shifts, venture capitalists reposition as well...   Despite the shake-out, some local dot-coms continue to be up-beat.   And many believe they can survive the tumultuous times by cutting costs & boot-strapping their operations."
 

2000-06-24

2000-06-25

2000-06-26

2000-06-27

2000-06-28

2000-06-29

2000-06-29
_USA Today_/_Bloomberg_
Firms Dropping 'Dot-Com' from Names

2000-06-29
Hugh B. Price _National Urban League_
Urban League calls for delay in expansion of H-1B visa program

2000-06-29
Norm Matloff _H-1B/ L-1/ Off-Shoring News-Letter_
HR circles the wagons
 

2000-06-30

2000-06-30 15:54PDT (18:54EDT) (22:54GMT)
Alex Frew McMillan _CNN_
Lay-offs in the digital world fired up in May & June, and there may be more to come
disappointed dot.com: Lay-Offs
"When the venture-capital money was flowing freely and Nasdaq stock prices were flying last year, it was hard to envisage such a pass.   But here we are.   Dot.comers such as Cynthia and Sean Brodrick felt that sinking feeling take over earlier this year.   They are not alone.   A study by Chicago-based Challenger Gray & Christmas Inc., which helps displaced employees find jobs, shows 5,398 dot.com job cuts since December.   But the pace picked up violently in May and continued into June...   Forrester Research, which specializes in analyzing the on-line world, expects that more than half the dot.coms that existed at the beginning of 2000 will be gone by 2001."
 

2000 June
Patricia Buckley, Sabrina Montes, David Henry, Donald Dalton, Gurmukh Gill Jesus Durnagan, Susan Laporte, Sandra Cooke, Dennis Pastore, Lee Price, Robert Shapiro, Jeffrey Mayer
_Digital 2000_ (pdf) US Dept. of Commerce Economics & Statistics Administration pg 4 (v)
"Declines in computer prices, which were already rapid -- roughly 12% per year on average between 1987 & 1994 -- accelerated to 26% per year during 1995-1999.   Between 1994 & 1998 (the last 4 years for which data are available), the price of telecommunications equipment declined by 2% a year.   Declining IT prices & years of sustained economic growth have spurred massive investments not only in computer & communications equipment, but in new software that harnesses & enhances the productive capacity of that equipment.   Real business investment in IT equipment & software more than doubled between 1995 & 1999, from $243G to $510G.   The software component of these totals increased over the period from $82G to $149G."

2000 June
Patricia Buckley, Sabrina Montes, David Henry, Donald Dalton, Gurmukh Gill Jesus Durnagan, Susan Laporte, Sandra Cooke, Dennis Pastore, Lee Price, Robert Shapiro, Jeffrey Mayer
_Digital 2000_ US Dept. of Commerce Economics & Statistics Administration pg 5 (pdf)
"Between 1994 & 1999, US R&D investment increased at an average annual (inflation adjusted) rate of about 6% -- up from roughly 0.3% during the previous 5-year period.   The lion's share of this growth -- 37% between 1995 & 1998 -- occurred in IT industries.   In 1998, IT industries invested $44.8G in R&D, or nearly one-third of all company-funded R&D."

2000 June
Kathryn Holmes _ASME News_
Washington Hot-Line
"The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims recently approved a measure that would eliminate the cap on H-1B visas issued to highly skilled non-U.S. workers in fiscal years 2000, 2001 and 2002.   The Technology Worker Temporary Relief Act (HR4227) introduced by subcommittee chairman Lamar Smith, R-TX, would allow as many H-1B visas as necessary to be issued.   Companies would have to show they have increased their numbers of U.S. employees and increased their employee compensation.   HR4227 would also require that skilled temporary non-U.S. workers be full-time employees, and set a $40K minimum on wages.   The Omnibus Appropriations Act of 1998 included language that raised the cap on H-1B visas from the previous 65K to 115K in fiscal years 1999 and 2000.   The number of visas would drop to 107,500 in fiscal 2001, and return to 65K in fiscal 2002.   Representatives David Dreier, R-CA, and Zoe Lofgren, D-CA, have also introduced legislation on H-1B visas.   The Helping to Improve Technology Education and Achievement Act of 2000 (Hi-Tech Act, HR3983) has been referred to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims.   This legislation would hike the number of H-1B visas to 200K in fiscal 2001-2003...   The results of an on-line survey will be used to develop ASME's Public Policy Agenda for 2001-2002.   ASME's Public Policy Agenda establishes federal and state priorities for ASME to address during the future legislative sessions and informs policy makers about the Society's federal and state policy concerns and priorities."

2000 June
Stephen A. Wandner & Andrew Stettner _Monthly Labor Review_
Why are many jobless workers not applying for benefits?
PDF
"Recipiency rates -- the number of persons receiving unemployment insurance benefits (from administrative data) divided by the total number of unemployed persons (from Current Population Survey data) -- have provided a consistent measure of the UI program's scope.   Recipiency rates averaged 49% in the 1950s, 42% in the 1960s, 40% in the 1970s, and 33% in the 1980s.   The rate reached a low point of 28.5% in 1984, and since then it has stayed above 30%, reaching a recent high of 35.1% in 1996.   This trend has raised concerns among policy-makers that the UI program has become less responsive to US workers.   One explanation for the drop in recipiency rates is that fewer unemployed workers are filing for UI benefits.   Unemployed workers cannot receive benefits if they do not apply...
 
For consistency, recipiency rates are defined in this article in the same way that they are in Wayne Vroman, _The Decline in Unemployment Insurance Claims Activity in the 1980s_, Unemployment Insurance Occasional Paper 91-2 (US Department of Labor, 1991 January).   Thus, the recipiency rate is aggregate insured unemployment divided by total unemployment.   This is a different measure than the insured unemployment rate (IUR), which equals continued claims (for regular program unemployment benefits) divided by total covered employment.   The Insured Unemployment Rate (IUR) is different from the 'recipiency rate' referred to in this paper.   IUR is the percentage of covered workers that are claiming UI insurance benefits.   Over the years, the number of covered workers has increased (the denominator of the IUR), which has depressed the IUR.   The recipiency rate is a 'purer' measure of the coverage of the unemployed: it refers to the ratio of unemployed insured individuals to the total number of unemployed individuals."
-30-
 

2000 June
Cynthia M. Fagnoni _GAO_
Contingent Employment: Incomes & Benefits Lag Behind Those of the Rest of the Work-Force
"Estimates of the size of the contingent work-force range from 5% of the total work-force, when only the categories of temporary and on-call workers are included, to almost 30% when workers in the other categories are added.   Workers in most of these categories are more likely than workers in more traditional full-time work arrangements to have low family incomes, and many have incomes below the federal poverty threshold.   Contingent workers are also less likely than the rest of the work-force to receive health insurance and pension benefits through their employers...
 
The term contingent'...was first used in 1985 to describe the impermanent nature of certain work arrangements, such as the practice of hiring workers only when there is an immediate and limited demand for their services, without any offer of permanent or even long-term employment...   some labor experts prefer [euphemistic or more ambiguous terms] less linked to job security, such as 'non-standard', flexible', or 'alternative' work arrangements...   Categories of workers who could be considered contingent [include]: agency temporary workers, direct-hire temps, on-call workers, day laborers, contract company workers, independent contractors, self-employed workers, standard part-time workers, leased workers...
 
according to data from the BLS Contingent Work Supplement, direct-hire temps and standard part-time workers are likely to be younger (under age 25) than workers in the other categories, while a greater number of self-employed workers and independent contractors are older (aged 55 and older).
 
A much larger proportion of contract company workers are male (71%) than of standard full-time workers (56%), while a larger proportion of standard part-time workers are female (70%) than of standard full-time workers (44%)...
 
Most agency temps, on-call workers, and day laborers would prefer a permanent job, while most independent contractors, self-employed workers, and standard part-time workers prefer their current work arrangements.   (Different categories of contingent workers were asked different questions about their preferences.   Agency temps, on-call workers, day laborers, and contract company workers were asked whether they would prefer to have a permanent rather than a temporary job.   Independent contractors and self-employed workers were asked whether they would prefer to work for someone else rather than continuing in their current work arrangement [thus biasing the results].)...
 
a large percentage of direct-hire temps (over 33%) and on-call workers (over 19%) work in educational services -- for example, as substitute teachers or college teachers with temporary contracts...
 
[Total contingent workers:] 39,271, 29.9%; Standard full-time workers: 92,222, 70.1%...
 
Although this information differs from the data on agency temps collected in the Contingent Work Supplement, it indicates that the industry has grown significantly, from 0.5% of the total work-force in 1982 to over 2% in 1998.   From 1982 to 1998, the total number of jobs in the temporary help supply industry rose 577%, while during the same period the total number of jobs grew 41%.
 
Furthermore, certain industries and communities have begun to rely heavily on agency temps.   One study of the contingent work-force in the Silicon Valley area of California -- an area with a large number of high-tech companies -- noted that, from 1984 to 1995, the average number of people employed in temporary help agencies in Santa Clara County grew from 1.6% of the total work-force to 3.3%, more than a 100% increase.   (Chris Benner 1996 May _Shock Absorbers in the Flexible Economy: The Rise of Contingent Employment in Silicon Valley_)   Over the same period, total employment in the area grew only 4%.   The study also reported that, in 1997, temporary help agencies had over 200 offices in Silicon Valley that placed over 10K agency temps each week...
 only 9% of agency temps have employer-provided health insurance (compared with 73% of standard full-time workers), and only 43% of agency temps have health insurance fromany source (compared with 88% of standard full-time workers)...
 
76% of standard full-time workers work for employers that offer pension plans to their employees, and 64% of them are included in these plans.   With the exception of contract company workers, contingent workers are less likely to work for employers that offer pension plans.   When their employers do offer pension plans, all categories of contingent workers who work for an employer are less likely to be included in the plans.   About 21% of agency temps -- the category with the lowest proportion of pension plans -- work for employers that offer pension plans, and only 7% are included in the plans....   Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (42 U.S.C. 1320d)"
-30-
 

US Work-Force by Category of Worker

	1995 February		1997 February		1999 February
Category	Workers	PerCent of Work-Force	Workers	PerCent of Work-Force	Workers	PerCent of Work-Force
Contingent	39,618,000	32.2%	39,605,000	31.2%	39,271,000	29.9%
Real	83,589,000	67.8%	87,135,000	68.8%	92,222,000	70.1%

2000 June
Debra Thompson _TG & Associates_ citing John Bolton 2000-06-04 _Arizona Daily Star_
Can't Hurry Hiring
"Employers filling vacancies left by managers and 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.   Common sense might suggest the tight labor market is to blame for the lengthy job search times.   But Challenger Gray CEO John Challenger offers another explanation: pickiness."

2000 June
_GAO_
Incomes and Benefits of Contingent Workers Lag Behind Those of the Rest of the Work-Force (pdf with tables & graphs)
alternate link
"Labor experts and others generally agree that workers who lack job security and have unpredictable work schedules, such as temporary and on-call workers, should be included in the definition of the contingent work-force.   However, there is less agreement on whether workers such as independent contractors, self-employed workers, and part-time wage and salary workers should be included.   Many of these individuals work in relatively permanent employment arrangements; however, they may have less job security and less predictable work schedules than workers in traditional, full-time work arrangements.
 
Estimates of the size of the contingent work-force range from 5% of the total work-force, when only the categories of temporary and on-call workers are included, to almost 30% when workers in the other categories are added.
 
Workers in most of these categories are more likely than workers in more traditional full-time work arrangements to have low family incomes, and many have incomes below the federal poverty threshold.   Contingent workers are also less likely than the rest of the work-force to receive health insurance and pension benefits through their employers...
according to data from the BLS Contingent Work Supplement, direct-hire temps and standard part-time workers are likely to be younger (under age 25) than workers in the other categories, while a greater number of self-employed workers and independent contractors are older (aged 55 and older).
 
A much larger proportion of contract company workers are male (71%) than of standard full-time workers (56%), while a larger proportion of standard part-time workers are female (70%) than of standard full-time workers (44%).
 In comparing the percentages of contingent workers by race, the largest difference between contingent workers and standard full-time workers is that the percentage of agency temps who are black (21%) is higher than the percentage of standard full-time workers who are black (12%)...
 
Of those who work in professional services, a large percentage of direct-hire temps (over 33%) and on-call workers (over 19%) work in educational services -- for example, as substitute teachers or college teachers with temporary contracts...
BLS included only 57% of agency temps and 28% of on-call workers in its estimate of the contingent work-force for 1997...   Table 1: US Work-Force by Category of Worker, 1999:...   Sub-Total 39,271,000, 29.9%; Standard full-time workers 92,222,000, 70.1%...   Table 2...1995 39,618,000, 32.2%; 1997 39,605,000, 31.2%; 1999 39,271,000, 29.9%."
-30-
 

2000 June
Paul M. Romer _NBER_
Should the government subsidize supply or demand in the market for scientists and engineers?
"This paper suggests that innovation policy in the United States has erred by subsidizing the private sector demand for scientists and engineers without asking whether the educational system provides that supply response necessary for these subsidies to work.   It suggests that the existing institutional arrangements in higher education limit this supply response. &bsp; To illustrate the path not taken, the paper considers specific programs that could increase the numbers of scientists and engineers available to the private sector."

2000 June
_Top 500_
500 fastest computers in the world (rated in giga Floating-point Operations / second
 

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