UPWARDLY GLOBAL POSITIONS ON IMMIGRATION

AND WORKPLACE ISSUES AND TRENDS

Looming 'Skilled Worker Gap'

H-1B Visa Cap Reached

HR-10's Anti-Immigrant Provisions

Evaluating Credentials of Foreign-Born Professionals

Looming 'Skilled Worker Gap'

In addressing the skilled worker gap, a skilled labor shortage estimated to grow to 5.3 million workers by 2010 and 14 million by 2020, attributed to the retiring baby boom generation, what is often overlooked is the untapped labor pool of legal immigrant professionals, already in the United States, who are grossly un- or underemployed.

Enter Upwardly Global who offers full career and placement services for this specific segment of the workforce, more than 240,000 immigrants strong who meet the following requirements:
- legal permanent residency status (no working visas required) with family based visas, refugee or asylee status
- minimum 4 year college education
- work experience in their respective professional field
- entered the U.S. in the past five years and are either underemployed or unemployed.

Upwardly Global provides hiring executives with an online resume database of these candidates, facilitates recruitment events for candidates to meet employers, and assists human resources in evaluating and integrating candidates with foreign-gained credentials and experience.

One thing employers won't be able to do for long is ignore this looming skilled labor shortage. Hiring executives are going to need to tap into additional resources to ease their staffing pain. Increasing wages, offering incentives to keep older workers on the job, luring employees away from competitors, and outsourcing are all viable solutions. They can also begin lobbying the government to jack up the quota for skilled immigrants.

Sources:
National Association of Manufacturers white paper based on research by labor economist Anthony Carnevale, former chairman of President Clinton's National Commission for Employment Policy.

H-1B Visa Cap Reached

The H-1B cap on visas was reached on October 1, 2004 restricting employers from hiring highly educated immigrant professionals for an entire year, including immigrant graduates from U.S. universities with advanced degrees in science and math. Unless Congress takes action, employers will be prohibited from having access to the talent they need to fill highly specialized positions needed to compete in today's global marketplace.

Mr. Paul Zulkie, President of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) says, "Not only would U.S. employers miss out on American-educated talent, but we would be handing this talent to our competitors abroad." While the U.S. is shutting its doors on highly qualified immigrant job seekers, Central European countries and Japan are upgrading their immigration laws to attract this highly educated talent (and their innovations) to counteract demographic shifts attributed to the retiring baby boom generation that will leave a huge skilled worker gap behind, to reach 5.3 million workers by 2010 in the U.S (see 'Skilled Worker Gap' above).

U.S. corporate profits and economic growth will be severely impacted by the visa cap and companies will increasingly depend on the assimilation of highly educated, work-authorized immigrant professionals, currently living in the US, into the workforce. Upwardly Global provides full career and placement services for LEGAL immigrant professionals-doctors, engineers, researchers, teachers-who are un- or underemployed in low skill jobs, living in the US. Upwardly Global provides national employers an online resume database of these candidates, facilitates recruitment events for candidates to meet employers, and assists human resources in evaluating and integrating candidates with foreign-gained credentials and experience.

HR-10's Anti-Immigrant Provisions

The house recently passed H.R. 10, a bill that includes several anti-immigration provisions that severely impacts protections and rights afforded immigrants, asylum-seekers and refugees in the US. The bill includes long-rejected anti-immigrant proposals, undermines the availability of basic due process, allows the removal of persons without administrative or judicial review, further restricts asylum eligibility and authorizes deportations while appeals remain pending. Lastly, several of the provisions are in violation of the Torture Convention.

Selected Representatives and Senators have been meeting to resolve differences between bills passed by the Senate (S. 2845) and House (H.R. 10). S. 2845 is a bipartisan measure that the 9/11 Commission has endorsed and does not include harmful and divisive anti-immigrant provisions that mar the House-passed bill, H.R. 10. A decision is expected to be reached this month (Nov.)

Many of these LEGAL immigrants, who come to the US in search for jobs and a better life, come with degrees and professional experience as doctors, lawyers, engineers, and researchers. Many of these work-authorized professionals are currently un- or underemployed here in the US - business executives working in assembly lines or making hotel beds, doctors picking grapes.

Upwardly Global provides full career and placement services for these highly-educated, work authorized, professional immigrants whose rights are constantly under attack. Their knowledge of the global and domestic ethnic marketplace has proven to be an extremely valuable asset for US companies, and their rights should be protected.

Evaluating Credentials of Foreign-Born Professionals

Much like the World Education Services provides to U.S. universities in evaluating educational credentials of foreign students, Upwardly Global helps employers to evaluate and pre-qualify credentials, education and experience of legal immigrant professionals. Without this expertise, the effective importation and integration of immigrant students and professionals would be very difficult for universities and employers alike to execute on their own.

There is a misconception that universities and employers should consider degrees earned abroad to be fraudulent until proven otherwise. Yet, in many countries, the admission and graduation requirements are so rigorous that only the best and the brightest earn degrees.

More than 240,000 permanent immigrants, including refugees and asylees, come to the United States each year with at least the equivalent of a bachelor's degree, yet they are grossly underemployed in low-skill jobs. With the impending skilled labor shortage the retiring baby boom generation is leaving behind, employers need to hone their skills at evaluating candidates with foreign-gained credentials and experience.

Sources:
New York Times, "Vetting Those Foreign College Credentials", by Alex Mindlin, September 29, 2004. Subscription required. (make 'subscription required' text link to: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60A13F73C5C0C7A8EDDA00894DC404482&incamp=archive:search)