To: H-1B/L-1/offshoring e-newsletter 174

BusinessWeek was originally going to do a piece on the various players
in the H-1B reform movement, but decided to focus on me instead.  The
article is enclosed below.  Of course, I do have some comments.

#  As are most advocates on immigration issues, Matloff is a controversial
#  figure. He's admired by supporters--including activists on H-1B visa
#  issues--but criticized by other academics who don't share his views and
#  who chafe at his often-abrasive rhetorical style. Critics also suggest
#  there could be a xenophobic undertone implicit in his critique of the
#  H-1B visa program. Matloff posts opinionated blog entries on the Web
#  site of Numbers USA, a group calling for lower levels of immigration.
#  His writing prompted one tech worker, Arthur Hu of Bothell, Wash., to
#  create a Web page criticizing Matloff, whom he calls the "Hatchet Man
#  of Asian Immigration."

Some of the reader comments on this article take BusinessWeek to task
for giving a voice to "Kevin, the IT Grunt," who is obviously some
fringe guy on the H-1B issue.  I might say the same for Arthur Hu.  With
hundreds of millions of Web users, there is likely to be one that rants
against any topic under the sun, and it happens that one of Arthur's
topics is me. :-)  That's fine, but some readers of the article may
mistakenly take this to mean that Asian-Americans agree with him on the
H-1B issue, which they don't.  Every time I'm invited to speak to an
Asian-American conference, such as the Asian Pacific American Conference
on Law and Public Policy at Harvard and the Asian-American Out of the
Silence Conference at Stanford, I get solid support from the audiences.
This should be no surprise--with so many Asian-Americans in engineering,
H-1B puts their jobs at risk.  My support from my own students,
two-thirds of whom are Asian-American (not Asian foreign students), is
also quite strong.  I'm proud to say that they've nominated me for
various teaching awards, some of which I've been fortunate to win.

#  Matloff has influence on the H-1B visa debate beyond his Web page and
#  e-mail newsletter. He has worked with Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa)
#  on a bill introduced in April that would add restrictions to the H-1B
#  visa program.

Small correction:  Though I've worked with Grassley's office, I've never
talked to the senator himself.

#  (itgrunt.com). "THAT IS ONE ARTICULATE [expletive]", wrote Kevin in a
#  post in April referring to Matloff. (Matloff distances himself from
#  "Kevin" and his Web site and says his views are "unrepresentative.")

Maybe this is a small correction too, but I want to clarify that what I
told Moira Herbst, the reporter, was that I had never even heard of
Kevin/IT Grunt until she herself brought him to my attention.

#  Matloff has his share of supporters and critics in the academic world,
#  too. "Matloff routinely attacks the work of other academics by citing
#  statistics and data which have no basis," says Vivek Wadhwa, a Duke
#  University engineering professor and fellow with the Labor & Worklife
#  Program at Harvard Law School. (Wadhwa is also a columnist for
#  BusinessWeek.com.) "He claims to have performed his own research, but
#  this research doesn't seem to have been published by credible
#  authorities or have received any form of peer review."

I wish Ms. Herbst had given me a chance to comment.  Vivek's statements
here are unfair and I believe close to being legally actionable.  They
are not quite as bad as what he told a San Francisco radio station
recently, which I reported on here at the time.  To suggest that an
academic is dishonest in his research is to endanger his ability to
make a living, and I wish BusinessWeek had not given its colleague
such lattitude.  I'll leave the reader to peruse the details at
http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/Archive/VivekWadhwaCrossesLine.txt
but I will comment on a couple of points here.

First, my University of Michigan article that Herbst mentions was indeed
peer-reviewed, and obviously was in a very prestigious venue.  To my
knowledge, it is the most extensive paper ever published on H-1B, 99
pages in length with over 300 footnotes.  My other article cited by
Herbst was in a publication of the California State Bar Association, and
was written at their invitation.  I've also written articles at the
invitation of publications of the Association for Computing Machinery
(the main computer science professional organization), IEEE (the main
electrical engineering association), and so on.

Second, the vast majority of my analyses use publicly available data,
from the U.S. Census PUMS database, the U.S. Dept. of Labor PERM data,
NSF's NSCG survey and so on.  Thus anyone can confirm my analyses.

Putting Vivek's remarks aside, the much more important point is that he
and I agree on the main issues:  (a) H-1B is widely used by employers as
a source of cheap labor.  (b) The employers underpay the H-1Bs in full
compliance with the law, exploiting loopholes.  (c) There is no tech
labor shortage.

Vivek wrote the following in The American last year (see
www.american.com/archive/2008/july-august-magazine-contents/america2019s-other-immigration-crisis):

%  Moreover, I know from my experience as a tech CEO that H-1Bs are
%  cheaper than domestic hires. Technically, these workers are supposed
%  to be paid a “prevailing wage,” but this mechanism is riddled with
%  loopholes.

We also agree on point (c); see for example
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9910492

Finally, there is a quote from Lindsay Lowell:

#  But other academics say they respect his work. "Matloff understands the
#  guts of the issue in a way many academics don't," says B. Lindsay
#  Lowell, director of policy studies at Georgetown University's Institute
#  for the Study of International Migration. "He brings a lot of passion
#  to the subject, which has its upsides and downsides. At times it can
#  detract from his message." Lowell adds that "as a professor, I believe
#  he may take the career options of his students seriously and believes,
#  to some extent, that an oversupply of highly skilled immigrants--H-1Bs
#  in particular--is not in the interest of the domestic supply line." But
#  Lowell says that like many researchers in this area, Matloff lacks
#  definitive data on, for example, the proportion of older workers who
#  are laid off and replaced by younger workers or H-1B visa holders.

In turn I have had high praise for Lindsay.  Readers will recall my
praise of his Urban Institute study with Hal Salzman that contradicted the
doomsday reports we see so often in the press (often fed to the press by
organizations with their own agendas) on America's educational system.  See
my postings on this at http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/Archive/UrbanInst.txt and
http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/Archive/UrbanInst2.txt 

Concerning Lindsay's "lacks definitive data" comment, though, I must
point out the following.  The data showing the underpayment of the H-1Bs
and the problems of older (age 35+) workers in the field is
overwhelming.  What Lindsay is referring to, though, is a connection
between the two.  Has the negative impact of H-1B on older tech workers
been "definitively" established?  I believe it has, though not in the
way in which Lindsay has posed the question, in terms of layoffs.

Yes, it does sometimes happen that older Americans are laid off and
replaced by younger workers or H-1Bs.  (Statistically, most H-1Bs are
young.)  But typically it's not so direct.  Instead, a job opens, and
the young Americans and H-1Bs are hired instead of the older Americans.
There is excellent, yes "definitive," data on this, such as those by
American University and the National Research Council, the latter
commissioned by Congress.

The industry lobbyists try to spin this as lack of modern skills on the
part of the older Americans.  This is a red herring, as I show
extensively in my University of Michigan and California State Bar
articles.  Even Vivek, a former tech CEO, has said this many times, e.g.
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/episodes/2009/05/01/segments/130690:

% ...even if the [older] $120,000 programmer gets the right skills,
% companies would rather hire the younger workers.  That's really what's
% behind this.

As a professional statistician and former statistics professor, I would
like to make one more point about data:  It must be coupled with
qualitative knowledge of the matter being studied.  Otherwise, the
analyst is like the ancient astronomer Ptolemy, constructing ever more
intricate mathematical theories based on totally false premises (sun
revolving around the Earth).  In the H-1B salary area, for instance,
there are lots of pitfalls for the unwary.  I have a detailed discussion
of this in my University of Michigan paper.

The article follows below.  Sorry for my absence these last few weeks.
I've been busy with family matters.  But I've got a lot to write about
in the next couple of weeks, including my long-awaited analysis of the
Kerr/Lincoln paper on immigrant patenting.

Norm
   
http://www.businessweek.com/print/bwdaily/dnflash/content/jun2009/db20090626_585028.htm

BusinessWeek
June 28, 2009

An Academic's Labor Helps Fight H-1B Visas

Norm Matloff, a computer science professor with a Chinese-born wife, says the
U.S. skilled-immigrant visa system exploits workers everywhere

By Moira Herbst

Not many computer science professors are activists on immigration
policy. But Norm Matloff of the University of California, Davis wears
both hats. He has been a vocal critic of the H-1B visa program for
skilled immigrants since the mid-1990s, and now maintains a Web page
and e-mail listserv discussing offshoring and the H-1B visa program,
which he calls a "sham." He says his motivation is to protect and
preserve tech job opportunities for the students he teaches.

"I have no personal stake in any of this," says Matloff, who is 60. "If
the H-1B program were disbanded tomorrow, my personal well-being would
not improve one iota. [But] when I see something that is not right and
about which I know something, I tend to speak out. On this issue, I
know where the bodies are buried."

The H-1B visa program inspires heated debate, especially online. The
program is controversial for a number of reasons. Some critics say the
program allows U.S. companies to import cheaper labor, dampening wages
and displacing U.S. workers. Others say it facilitates outsourcing, as
it allows Indian-born tech workers to train in the U.S. and then return
home and perform the work there. Still others point to mounting
evidence of fraud in the program and a lack of government oversight.

"De Facto Indentured Servants"

Matloff stresses that the problem is not fraud or crime but the H-1B
visa law itself. He says that the law as currently written allows H-1B
visa holders to receive below-market wages. The policy also allows for
age discrimination as older U.S. tech workers are displaced by a
younger workforce from abroad. "Though the industry lobbyists portray
it as a remedy for labor shortages and as a means of hiring 'the best
and the brightest' from around the world, the visa is used to access
workers that cost less and are de facto indentured servants," Matloff
writes on his blog.

Matloff has written extensively about the effects of globalization and
offshoring on U.S. IT workers and has been quoted on the issue in most
major media outlets. He has also testified before Congress as an expert
on the work visa law. Some of his most influential academic work
includes a fall 2003 article in the University of Michigan Journal of
Law Reform on the H-1B work visa called "On the Need for Reform of the
H-1B Nonimmigrant Work Visa in Computer-Related Occupations." A 2006
article that linked H-1B visas to age discrimination in the computer
industry was published by the California Labor & Employment Law Review.

As are most advocates on immigration issues, Matloff is a controversial
figure. He's admired by supporters--including activists on H-1B visa
issues--but criticized by other academics who don't share his views and
who chafe at his often-abrasive rhetorical style. Critics also suggest
there could be a xenophobic undertone implicit in his critique of the
H-1B visa program. Matloff posts opinionated blog entries on the Web
site of Numbers USA, a group calling for lower levels of immigration.
His writing prompted one tech worker, Arthur Hu of Bothell, Wash., to
create a Web page criticizing Matloff, whom he calls the "Hatchet Man
of Asian Immigration."

Matloff: Job Loss Is the Only Issue

Matloff firmly denies that he is prejudiced. He says that to the
contrary, he is active in the Chinese community and has served as an
expert witness in litigation on age and racial discrimination in the
software industry. He points out that he is the son of an immigrant who
grew up in a working-class, ethnically mixed part of Los Angeles. His
wife was born in China and he speaks both Cantonese and Mandarin with
her and their daughter at home. "I hope that absolves me of all
suspicion," he says.

Matloff also disputes the idea that those who oppose the H-1B visa
program are xenophobic. "To make the claim that somehow the [anti-H-1B
visa] movement is motivated by race is flat-out wrong," says Matloff.
"People can get really emotional in listservs, some of them to the
point of getting paranoid....But even then I don't see racial or
xenophobic language [emerge], except on occasion." He adds that the
issue is about the loss of jobs and not ethnicity. "The implication [of
the racial argument] would be that an activist wouldn't mind if some
Canadian or someone of European ancestry took his or her job," he says.
"If you lose your job, you lose your job."

Matloff has influence on the H-1B visa debate beyond his Web page and
e-mail newsletter. He has worked with Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa)
on a bill introduced in April that would add restrictions to the H-1B
visa program.

Drawing Criticism from Both Sides

To some opponents of H-1B visas, Matloff is something of a hero--and in
a sense, the intellectual backbone of their movement. "Matloff was the
first person to raise attention to this issue and provide a detailed
analysis of the impact of the H-1B visa program," says John Miano,
founder of U.S. tech advocacy group the Programmers Guild and a labor
attorney in Summit, N.J. "I and others knew what was going on
anecdotally, but he got the data together to shine the light on the big
picture. He provides most of the leadership from an academic point of
view."

Others seem less enamored. "While I do admire Matloff and find his work
to be substantial, his contribution to our cause has been academic and
largely ignored by the I.T. industry," says "Kevin," who publishes a
blog that routinely refers to Indian tech workers as "slumdogs"
(itgrunt.com). "THAT IS ONE ARTICULATE [expletive]", wrote Kevin in a
post in April referring to Matloff. (Matloff distances himself from
"Kevin" and his Web site and says his views are "unrepresentative.")

Matloff has his share of supporters and critics in the academic world,
too. "Matloff routinely attacks the work of other academics by citing
statistics and data which have no basis," says Vivek Wadhwa, a Duke
University engineering professor and fellow with the Labor & Worklife
Program at Harvard Law School. (Wadhwa is also a columnist for
BusinessWeek.com.) "He claims to have performed his own research, but
this research doesn't seem to have been published by credible
authorities or have received any form of peer review."

Policymaking vs. Research

But other academics say they respect his work. "Matloff understands the
guts of the issue in a way many academics don't," says B. Lindsay
Lowell, director of policy studies at Georgetown University's Institute
for the Study of International Migration. "He brings a lot of passion
to the subject, which has its upsides and downsides. At times it can
detract from his message." Lowell adds that "as a professor, I believe
he may take the career options of his students seriously and believes,
to some extent, that an oversupply of highly skilled immigrants--H-1Bs
in particular--is not in the interest of the domestic supply line." But
Lowell says that like many researchers in this area, Matloff lacks
definitive data on, for example, the proportion of older workers who
are laid off and replaced by younger workers or H-1B visa holders.

Anti-H-1B activists say they're worried less about academic research
and more about shaping policy. "The thing that's missing in Norm
Matloff's strategy is fighting for a seat at the table," says Donna
Conroy, executive director of Bright Future Jobs, a lobbying group that
advocates restricting the H-1B visa program. "We need a political
movement that allows us to help craft legislation. All the numbers
[Matloff] crunches won't have nearly the impact as American technical
professionals standing up for themselves."

Still, Matloff says he's ready to roll up his sleeves and get to work
on H-1B visa reform: "If and when Congress wants to clean up this mess,
I can tell them how to do it."

Herbst is a reporter for BusinessWeek in New York.