The US universities produce enough graduates in science, technology,
engineering and maths (STEM) to meet the demand for high-skilled
professionals in the country, says a study.
Contradicting
the claims of some American companies that the country faces STEM
shortage, the study by Washington-based Economic Policy Institute (EPI)
said there are more domestic graduates in these fields than the market
can accommodate.
"The debate over guest worker
programmes is largely based on anecdotal evidence and testimonials from
employers, rather than solid evidence," said its key author Hal Salzman
of the Rutgers University.
"Our examination
shows that the STEM shortage in the United States is largely overblown.
Guest worker programmes are in need of reform, but any changes should
make sure that guest workers are not lower-paid substitutes for domestic
workers," Salzman said.
According to the
report, despite a steady supply of US STEM graduates, guest workers make
up a large and growing portion of the workforce, specifically in
information technology occupations and industries.
"IT
employers look to guest worker programmes as a source of labour that is
plentiful even at wages that appear to be too low to attract large
numbers of the best and brightest domestic students," EPI said in a
statement.
The flow of US students (citizens
and permanent residents) into STEM fields has been strong over the past
decade, and the number of US graduates with STEM majors appears to be
responsive to changes in employment levels and wages, it said.
For every two students that US colleges graduate with STEM degrees, only one is hired into a STEM job, the report said.
In
computer and information science and in engineering, US colleges
graduate 50 per cent more students than are hired into those fields each
year; of the computer science graduates not entering the IT workforce,
32 per cent say it is because IT jobs are unavailable, and 53 per cent
say they found better job opportunities outside of IT occupations.
These
responses suggest that the supply of graduates is substantially larger
than the demand for them in industry, EPI said in its report.
