Friday, March 08, 2002
It seems Sept. 11th is being used to justify an increasingly restrictive economic environment. The US Department of Defense is considering a policy wherein foreign national would not be allowed to work on DOD IT projects, even projects that deal only with unclassified data. This will have a negative effect on the hiring of foreign workers in IT, as many are hired by consulting and contracting firms. The US government is one of the largest customers for many consulting firms, which means that consulting firms will have less of an incentive to hire foreign workers.
Protecting labor from international competition has the same effect as protecting companies. You end up with a labor force which is less proficient, as well as force companies dependent on IT labor to pay more for it. America can't forget that it is poor immigrants who led to America having the largest and most vibrant economy in the world.
The question should be one of skill. If a foreign worker can do the job better than a domestic worker, then why shouldn't they have the right to do the job? People seem to think economic rules are different when you step outside national borders. They aren't. If you want an efficient economy, you need to have an efficient allocation of labor resources. Even IT workers in Bangalore get something like 45,000 USD at current exchange rates, and that's for living in India where the cost of living is much lower. Most IT workers need to be close to the companies who need them, which means they will have the same cost of living as American workers. Granted, the pool of available IT workers goes up which can lead to downward pressure on wages, but keep in mind that we STILL have an IT worker deficit in the United States. Our success at filling that deficit is one of the things that keeps America's engine of economic growth purring.
Don't let narrow interests use Sept. 11th to justify protectionism. Freedom matters from a personal standpoint as much as an economic one.
Protecting labor from international competition has the same effect as protecting companies. You end up with a labor force which is less proficient, as well as force companies dependent on IT labor to pay more for it. America can't forget that it is poor immigrants who led to America having the largest and most vibrant economy in the world.
The question should be one of skill. If a foreign worker can do the job better than a domestic worker, then why shouldn't they have the right to do the job? People seem to think economic rules are different when you step outside national borders. They aren't. If you want an efficient economy, you need to have an efficient allocation of labor resources. Even IT workers in Bangalore get something like 45,000 USD at current exchange rates, and that's for living in India where the cost of living is much lower. Most IT workers need to be close to the companies who need them, which means they will have the same cost of living as American workers. Granted, the pool of available IT workers goes up which can lead to downward pressure on wages, but keep in mind that we STILL have an IT worker deficit in the United States. Our success at filling that deficit is one of the things that keeps America's engine of economic growth purring.
Don't let narrow interests use Sept. 11th to justify protectionism. Freedom matters from a personal standpoint as much as an economic one.
