The high-tech industry lobbying group known as TechNet has issued a “report”–actually more of a protracted demand–entitled, “Closing the Skills Gap: The Data Behind Talent Shortages, High-Skilled Immigration, and Economic Impact.” In it, TechNet finds–to no one’s surprise–that “increasing high-skilled immigration will result in overall job creation, increased innovation, and economic growth across the country.”
That’s right, it just so happens that what Silicon Valley CEOs want more than anything–a continuous and growing supply of cheap foreign labor–is EXACTLY what all the rest of us NEED. It’s like Adam Smith has been updated for the digital era, and if we just allow the billionaires enough leeway and enough Asian workers, some kind of Invisible Hand will make sure everything works out fine for all of us.
The “report” does consider the argument–confirmed by any number of studies–that “the wages of low-skilled and college graduate native-born workers have dropped.” While grudgingly admitting that even if such a “pessimistic” downer were true, nevertheless, “overall wage increases for all U.S.-born workers, coupled with significant improvements in salaries for high school graduates and those with some college experience. . . have been positively impacted by immigration.”
Linda Moore, president and CEO of TechNet, issued the following boilerplate statement:
Throughout our history, immigrant innovators, entrepreneurs, and workers have come to the US, started businesses, created jobs, fueled innovation, and grown our economy. This report clearly shows that increasing high-skilled immigration will shrink the skills gap, create jobs for American workers, and grow our economy. We are in a global race for talent. The United States must welcome the world’s best and the brightest, and their families, so they can put their talents to work for the American economy.
So saith the CEOs, now open the gates.
Note: TechNet, which is itself composed of high-tech bigwigs from dozens of corporations, worked on this report with the “student policy committee” at the Institute of Politics, Harvard Kennedy School. The following members of that committee are listed: Isha Agarwal, Camden Archambeau, Owen Bernstein, Emily Cho, Hyuntae Choi, Luca D’Amico-Wong, Amen Gashaw, Lucas Gazianis, Lexi Kanter, Brendan Kiely, Jonathan Liu, Christopher Ma, Isabel Mehta, Lap Thien Nguyen, Fawwaz Shoukfeh, Matti Tan, Zach Werner, and Irvin Yi.
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