FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Leslie A. Dunbar

(212)558-438

ldunbar@nul.org

 NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE CALLS UPON CONGRESS TO SUSTAIN A PRESIDENTIAL VETO ON COMMERCE, JUSTICE STATE APPROPRIATIONS BILL

September 27, 2000–The National Urban League is very concerned that Congress is continuing to pursue an increase in the H-1B visa program. We find that such action would be very premature and would distract from far more important immigration issues that need immediate attention.

Under the American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act (P.L. 105-277) enacted in 1998, Congress directed the National Academy of Science (NAS) to undertake a study that would determine the short and long-term employment needs of the high tech and information technology (IT) sector. The completed study is due in October 2000.

In June, I called on Congress to hold off on any action pertaining to H-1B visas until the NAS study is released. Then, Congress should hold hearings to thoroughly examine the findings and their implications for the American workforce. Based on our analysis, the National Urban League remains skeptical about the need for an expansion of 800,000 workers. We insist that more can and must be done to equip young Americans — especially those of color who have established a toehold in information technology careers — to participate in this growth sector of the economy.

The Senate has limited the focus of debate on the H1-B visa program. Yet, conflicting views on this program are at root, caused by inequities toward immigration from China, Taiwan and India. So, a fair and equitable resolution cannot be reached without putting immigration law reform on the table.

Instead of focusing on another H-1B expansion, Congressional action on immigration issues should be focused on addressing the gross inequities imposed upon certain immigrant groups. In the interest of fair play, the National Urban League fully supports the "Fix ‘96" legislative effort to restore a fair balance to our nation’s immigration laws. Key issues that must be addressed this year include the late legalization class action lawsuits, Central American and Caribbean refugee parity in deportation relief, relief for Liberian refugees, restoration of access to public benefits, and restoring due process in the detention and deportation policies of the United States. In particular, we support, and applaud the efforts of Senator Jack Reed (RI), for proposing equality for Liberian refugees.

As the Senate proceeds with legislation on the H-1B visa program, the National Urban League urges that any legislation that goes to the President’s desk must include provisions that offer the best opportunity to insure that all American workers receive first opportunity (in a non-discriminatory manner) to fill information technology jobs.

Our examination of Information Technology workers follows closely the work of the U.S. Department of Commerce in looking at issues of the digital divide and training needs for America’s new workforce. Like Commerce, we have divided information technology workers into three categories, those generally requiring high levels of training, and who help create new software or hardware, those with moderate training, who help to maintain or install information infrastructures, and those with low levels of training who operate information infrastructure support operations.

For those in the highest skill category, using data from the 1997 CPS, we calculate roughly 3 million Americans have information technology occupations. Roughly one-half million of those workers are computer programmers. Increasing the H1-B visa cap by 800,000 would dwarf the existing number of Americans currently employed as programmers. Such an extension calls into serious question, whether employers will use fair and inclusive employment practices to search for new workers.

Currently, our estimates are that African Americans make up 11 percent of information technology workers, and that Latinos make up another 7 percent. Those numbers show that, for now, our communities have a share of jobs that positively reflects our share of the work force. We do not want that current track record to be jeopardized by a policy, which lacking adequate study, is poorly thought through.

The long-run viability of the American economy, and of the information industry, is dependent on the growth of the skill sets of American workers. That will not be accomplished unless passage of the H1-B legislation requires employers to take positive steps in creating a more efficient labor market for information technology workers. In the State of Black America 2000, the League showed that African American college attendance was now increasing at a faster rate than for whites. The National Science Foundation has found that African American college students are nearly twice as likely as white students to major in computer science. So, it is very important that the current, and future, diversity of the information technology work force be maintained, and protected. Legislation, which leaps ahead of adequate study and reflection, could easily undermine the current course we are on in developing this work force.

Specifically, the National Urban League urges adoption of the following:

• Require a minimum salary of $40,000 to the H-1B participant;

• Require the Department of Labor to issue final regulations implementing all provisions of the American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act (ACWIA) of 1998 by September 1, 2000;

• Extend the expiring worker protection provisions under the 1998 ACWIA through FY2002;

• Order a GAO study on H-1B employer recruitment of qualified American workers from underrepresented groups such as African Americans, Hispanics, women, and individuals with a disability;

• Order a GAO study on H-1B employers’ continual training and updating of skills of present employees, as well as their promotion whenever possible;

• Adopt Senator Edward Kennedy’s and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee’s language calling for H-1B employers to demonstrate they have taken positive steps in using open recruitment practices

• Require that employers submit annually to the Department of Labor the "W-2" wage withholding statements for their H-1B employees; and

Until the National Academy of Science findings become available and the hearings to assess their meaning occur, the National Urban League cannot support legislation that expands the H-1B special visas program. But if an expansion passes, we insist on the above safeguards as a minimum level of protection.

All available data show that there is already a sufficient American pipeline to feed the labor pool for workers in the various specialty professions. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects that job openings in the professional specialties in the next several years will average 920,000 per year. These openings are created by growth in the occupation and the need to fill vacancies created by retirees and workers leaving for other fields. Currently, U.S. colleges and universities are graduating approximately two million people each year with degrees ranging from Associate to professional and Doctorates.

African Americans are especially impacted by discriminatory hiring practices in the IT field. Data from the BLS show that the hiring of African Americans in high technology has improved only slightly during the past decade. According to a 1999 report, Silicon Ceiling: Solutions for Closing the Digital Divide, approximately 80% of the high technology companies in Silicon Valley do not file EEO-1 forms or affirmative action reports with the Joint Reporting Committee representing federal civil rights enforcement agencies. Clearly there’s work to be done to ensure that African Americans have fair access to the lucrative high tech labor market.

Therefore, we at the National Urban League find that, without the National Academy of Science study, we must fill those IT sector positions by recruiting first from the American workforce, provide education and training where necessary to continue feeding the American IT labor pool, and seek vigorous enforcement of our civil rights laws in the high technology companies where racial, gender, and age discrimination persist. Congressional action on immigration issues should first and foremost be focused on restoring a fair balance to our nation’s immigration laws as embodied in the "Fix ‘96" legislative effort.

Founded in 1910, the National Urban League is a nonprofit organization that, through its 114 affiliates in 34 states and the District of Columbia, provides direct services and functions as an advocate to generate policy reforms that empower African-Americans to achieve economic, academic and racial equality. The League’s headquarters is located at 120 Wall Street in New York City.