Obama calls for effort to boost high-tech training, hiring
Source: Associated Press, via Washington Post
By Associated Press March 9 at 1:06 PM
WASHINGTON Targeting stagnant wages in an otherwise improving economy, President Barack Obama on Monday called on employers, educational institutions and local governments to develop a home grown high technology workforce that could help drive up higher-income employment.
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Under the program, the Obama administration will provide $100 million in competitive grants to joint initiatives by employers, training institutions and local governments that target workers who dont have easy access to training. The money comes from fees companies pay to the government to hire higher-skilled foreign workers under the H-1B visa program.
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The initiative is designed to prepare U.S. workers for a growing number of technology jobs. According to the White House, of the 5 million jobs available today, more than half a million are in those fields.
Obamas attention to technology comes as the unemployment rate is dropping but wages remain flat. The unemployment rate in February dropped to 5.5 percent but average hourly earnings rose just 3 cents from January to $24.78. Raising wages has become one of the biggest challenges of the current economic recovery. ... These tech jobs pay 50 percent more than the average private sector wage, which means they are a ticket to the middle class, Obama said. ... The administrations plan is for universities and community colleges to provide training. It is also relying on high-tech educational academies, some of which have entered arrangements with cities to train workers in a matter of months and help place them in jobs.
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/obama-to-announce-effort-to-boost-high-tech-training-hiring/2015/03/08/1f476300-c602-11e4-bea5-b893e7ac3fb3_story.html
LiberalEsto
(22,845 posts)The H1=B visa program is a monumental scam designed to lower wages for American tech workers by bringing in lower-paid foreign workers to take away existing tech jobs. There are plenty of loopholes in it that enable companies to hire foreigners at lower wages. Among other things, companies revise job descriptions so the foreign workers don't appear to be doing exactly the same work as the laid-off American tech workers, and use the revised job descriptions to justify paying less.
valerief
(53,235 posts)foreign workers instead.
IronLionZion
(45,261 posts)companies want workers who they can control and take advantage in ways you can't with Americans
Anyone who has worked in the field knows that all tech jobs require plenty of on the job training and you always have to learn new stuff continuously as new stuff comes out.