US looks for alternatives to replace foreign tech workers

[OhioChick]

Source: BusinessWeek

13 Nov 2009, 1810 hrs IST, BusinessWeek

Many within techdom complain about U.S. companies that use cheap, offshore labor or guest foreign workers in place of domestic employees. Few are doing much about it. A noteworthy exception is Arthur Langer. His New York nonprofit organization, Workforce Outsource Services, is trying to provide alternatives to foreign tech workers, including those on H-1B visas, by granting scholarships to low-income students and placing them in multiyear work-study programs in companies while they work toward undergraduate degrees. "We have an incredible source of talent in this country that can work for competitive prices," says Langer, a technology consultant and adjunct professor at Columbia University. "You don't have to go to India for labor."

The organization began as an academic project nine years ago, became a company in 2005, and is now expanding in New York, New Jersey, and Ohio. So far, 120 students have graduated, and a further 65 are enrolled. Langer ultimately hopes to put thousands of youngsters through the program. He believes it's at a turning point. "We have proved it can work, and we're scaling up now," he says.

Langer, an expert in technology management, began the project after seeing many young people from poor communities go to college but fail to complete degree programs. The reason: They are under intense pressure to get into the workforce and earn money, or they are averse to piling up loan debt without the certainty that they will get good jobs after graduation. So he founded Workforce Outsource Services to help students earn degrees without financial strain.




Read more: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5226633.cms

[ihavenobias]

1. K & R n/t

[DavidDvorkin]

2. Waving hand vigorously

Unemployed tech worker, right here! Get your tech worker here! Hey!

[Lance_Boyle]

10. No job for you!

This program uses student labor because (surprise!) students will work for the same (or lower) shit wages the H1B brigades accepted.

[Newsjock]

3. Funny (not) how the Indian news source recasts the headline as a threat to them

Here is the original source for this story, the Business Week website:
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2009/tc20091111_828204.htm

Notice the headline on the original:
A Work-Study Program for U.S. Tech Students
Low-income kids can get experience and a degree in six years, with no debt and a job at the end, thanks to Workforce Outsource Services

Only when the story was picked up in India did it get translated into an attack on "foreign tech workers."

The program described in this story is a wonderful alternative that needs to be pursued vigorously. We have the talent right here, and we have people in need.

[OhioChick]

4. Interesting, but not surprising. Thanks for posting. n/t

[ChromeFoundry]

8. they sure put a spin on that. n/t

[Kansas Wyatt]

11. So India is threatened by U.S. companies hiring...

Lower income American students to replace the "foreign tech workers" here?

Hey India, who told you that it was America's responsibility to give your citizens jobs in America, while neglecting American citizens at the same time?

Oh, one more thing India, your quality of work SUCKS! In the electrical trade, if it has India or China on it, it is absolute shit and adds to labor costs in America. Both are the same, whether it is from India or China.

[pattmarty]

5. Um, like maybe educating and training OUR citizens to fill the jobs???

:sarcasm:

[Vincardog]

6. Que surprise. How about hiring the IT workers they laid off to hire the H1Bs in the first place?

Why not give everyone free college educations if they want them?

[shanti]

7. here's a novel idea -hire our own!

:eyes:

[hobbit709]

9. How about hiring AMERICAN tech workers?

There's plenty of us around who'd love to get back to work.
Unemployed since the layoffs of 2001 and over age 50.