Mumbai:
A dearth of information technology professionals,
who were the main factor for introduction of the H-1B
visa by the US, are gradually losing out their share of
the temporary visa programme to teachers and doctors,
a study on employment of short-term workers in the US
reveals.
"IT
was the reason for the development of the permit, but
the visas are now very, very widely applied in many occupational
groups including teachers, doctors and state government
administrators. IT still has about two-thirds of all H-1B
workers, but that share has been steadily declining,"
Lois Wise, an immigration expert said in his study `Insourcing
of short-term specialised workers into the US,'' said.
She
attributes the reason for such shift to the IT employers''
desire for young foreign workers.
"The
great majority of workers hired on H-1B visas are between
the ages of 25 and 34. Within the IT industry, there exists
a taste for discrimination that favours young people and
also favours international employees," she said in
the study, posted on Indiana University''s website.
Teachers
are a significant labour pool for H-1Bs. "State requiring
bilingual education or funding English language proficiency
programmes address the shortages by insourcing foreign
teachers. Education, in general, is a fast growing occupational
group for H-1B users." Texas is the biggest user
of H-1Bs for this purpose, with
five-to-six thousand people hired in that state alone.
"There
is a shortage of maths and science teachers around the
country. H-1B workers are being recruited to fill this
need," the study added.
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