The H-1B program has been in the news lately as a result of President Obama's nonsensical response to a woman whose husband is an unemployed engineer.
When confronted with the question of why the U.S. is importing foreign engineers when Americans are out of work, the president respond, "There is a huge demand around the country for engineers."
So where is this huge demand? The president could have gone to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The December unemployment rate was 4.0 percent for Professional and Related Occupations and 6.3 percent for Architecture and Engineering Occupations. The unemployment rate for engineers is 58 percent higher than for professional workers in general. The president is quite removed from reality here.
Of the woman's husband, the president said, "The word we're getting is that somebody in that kind of high tech field, that kind of engineer, should be able to find something right away."
In engineering, there is a term for this: GIGO, Garbage In/Garbage Out. Clearly, the president is getting the word from the wrong kind of people – industry leaders in search of cheap foreign labor, armed with large campaign contributions.
President Obama is clearly lacking a voice of the average working American. No advocate of American workers has his ear.
President Obama clearly sees the need for an advocate. Last week he created a taxpayer funded position of advocate for illegal aliens. The problem working Americans have with their government is clear: They are less important than illegal aliens in the eyes of the president.
