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The New England Council, the nation’s oldest regional business association representing over 400 companies and organizations throughout the region, has joined with 10 other regional chambers of commerce and business organizations in urging New England’s Senators to support the inclusion of a STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) education fund in the comprehensive immigration reform bill currently before the U.S. Senate. Organizations from all six New England states signed a letter sent to the New England Senate delegation yesterday.

“As the Senate considers bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform legislation this month, they have the opportunity to address one of the most serious impediments to economic growth in New England: the shortage of highly skilled workers in the STEM fields,” said James T. Brett, President & CEO of the New England Council. “The bill before the Senate addresses this shortage in the short term by increasing the cap on H-1B visas, and in the long term by creating a new STEM education fund to develop a domestic pipeline of STEM workers for the future. We’re pleased that so many of our fellow business organizations in New England have joined us in supporting this measure.”

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Read the entire press release at The New England Council’s site »

Read the letter sent to each of the 12 New England Senators »

The post NEC Leads Coalition of Biz Groups in Urging Senate to Support STEM Fund appeared first on inSPIRE STEM USA.

By John E. Sununu and Maria Cardona, inSPIRE STEM USA Co-Chairs

Although the work is not yet complete, advocates for a national fund for science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) and computer science education have reason to be optimistic.

Washington is well into its much-anticipated discussion on immigration reform, with a proposal for a broad bill under consideration in the Senate and legislation overhauling high-skill immigration recently introduced in the House of Representatives.

Both pieces of legislation include a national fund intended to help the U.S. train more of its students in STEM fields and produce more college graduates able to meet the expected growth in high-skill jobs. The fund would be created through additional fees paid by companies seeking high-skill H-1B visas and green cards to hire foreign workers.

Businesses, education groups and advocacy organizations have been following the progress of the legislation, but every state and virtually every community has a vested interest in the outcome as well. Last week in Delaware, Gov. Jack Markell and the state’s STEM Council issued their second annual report on STEM education in Delaware schools.

One of the report’s findings illustrates a challenge we face nationally – for every unemployed person in Delaware, there are 3.8 open jobs in STEM fields. And for every non-STEM job there are 1.7 people in the state.

It isn’t advanced math, but for anyone struggling with the equation, Gov. Markell summed it up neatly: “If you’re in the STEM fields, take your pick. If you’re not in the STEM fields, join the line. To succeed in the brave new world, my top priority is making sure our education system prepares our students.”

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Read the full article »

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The New England Council and other regional business leaders are applauding Senator Kelly Ayotte for her recent announcement that she will support the comprehensive immigration reform bill currently before the Senate. The New England Council is a non-partisan alliance of over 400 businesses, academic and health institutions, and public and private organizations throughout New England dedicated to promoting economic growth in the region.

“The New England Council applauds Senator Kelly Ayotte for her support for the comprehensive immigration reform bill currently being considered by the U.S. Senate,” said Council President & CEO James T. Brett. “One of the biggest impediments to economic growth in our region is the shortage of highly skilled workers to fill positions in our growing innovation sector. The bipartisan bill before the Senate addresses this issue with both a short term and a long term solution by increasing the cap on H-1B visas and allocating fees from those visas to support STEM education. Senator Ayotte clearly understands how important it is to address this STEM skills gap and the Council appreciates her support for this bill.”

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Read the entire press release at The New England Council’s site »

The post New England Biz Leaders Applaud Sen. Ayotte for Support of Immigration Reform appeared first on inSPIRE STEM USA.

By Beneva Schulte, Executive Director, inSPIRE STEM USA

The Economic Policy Institute study presents a picture of America’s STEM-worker shortage and STEM-education crisis that is vastly different from authoritative research on this topic ["Study: Shortage of U.S. STEM graduates a myth," Business, April 25].

Most researchers agree there are not enough qualified workers to fill currently vacant American jobs or the jobs the nation is expected to add in the future that require experts like computer scientists, mathematicians and engineers.

One flaw is that the study uses the category of “information science,” which includes librarians, social scientists and other professions that artificially inflate the pool of STEM workers.

The reality is the U.S. economy will produce about 120,000 computer-science jobs annually through 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, we only produce 40,000 bachelor’s degrees in that field each year.

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Read the full article »

The post Need for STEM Graduates Is Indisputable appeared first on inSPIRE STEM USA.

By James T. Brett

After years of discussion about the need to update our immigration system, the issue is finally on the so-called “front burner” in Congress and comprehensive reform is on the horizon. From a pathway to citizenship for illegal aliens to border security, there are a number of challenging issues our leaders in Washington must tackle.

There is, however, an additional issue that any comprehensive immigration reform plan should also address: the shortage of educated, highly skilled workers in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) fields. The U.S. Department of Commerce estimates that STEM jobs will grow by 17 percent between 2008 and 2018, compared to just 9.8-percent growth in non-STEM jobs. However, at the current pace, the U.S. simply will not produce enough workers to fill the jobs.

Few regions feel the burden of this skills gap more than New England, where we have a high concentration of high-tech employers. Our region is home to a thriving innovation economy that will drive growth and create jobs as the economy continues to recover. Yet the question remains, will we have the pipeline of skilled workers to fill those jobs?

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Read the entire article at The New England Council’s site »

The post BBJ: Immigration Reform Must Address the Skills Gap appeared first on inSPIRE STEM USA.

Today, the U.S. Senate took a significant first step toward reforming our nation’s broken and outdated immigration system with the introduction of comprehensive legislation by the ‘Gang of 8′ Senators. The bipartisan bill will broaden economic prosperity in both the short and long run by increasing access to the best and brightest talent from around the world, while also providing American students and workers with additional STEM education and training opportunities.

We thank the Senators for their leadership on this proposal and look forward to continuing to help refine the legislation. Microsoft strongly hopes that the legislative process will now move forward, as a comprehensive approach will strengthen our country’s long term economy. The bill contains numerous positive reforms that are essential for the continued growth of the tech sector, such as urgently needed increases in high-skilled visas and solutions to address the extensive backlog in employment-based green cards. It also provides for increased worker portability for visas and removes outdated per country caps for green cards.

Importantly, the legislation also helps us take steps to build our American workforce by establishing a new STEM education fund. The creation of a new STEM fund will help states invest in innovative programs that will build a stronger pipeline of U.S. workers equipped with the right skills for America’s future jobs.

The growing U.S. talent skills shortages in science, technology, engineering and math are clear. Just eleven days ago, the annual allotment for high skilled visas was greatly exceeded within the first week of availability. Our economy is creating 120,000 new computer-related jobs annually for graduates with a bachelor’s degree in computer science, but our universities are only producing about 51,000 such graduates each year. This supply and demand gap is longstanding and generates significant implications for U.S. job creation and economic competitiveness. We cannot afford to wait to enact these critically needed reforms.

Microsoft is pleased to continue working with Congress to enact a fair and meaningful immigration reform bill. There will be time for additional input and analysis as the bill moves to the Judiciary Committee and through the legislative process. We look forward to being part of that discussion. Passing broad immigration reform this year is critical for American workers, their potential employers and the broader U.S. economy.

The post Microsoft Supports Introduction of Historic Immigration Bill in the Senate appeared first on inSPIRE STEM USA.

inSPIRE STEM USA applauds the Senate’s bipartisan leadership as it seeks to improve our nation’s challenged immigration system.

As you and your colleagues pen this significant legislation, our coalition—comprised of advocacy groups, educational organizations, and business leaders—encourages you to integrate the STEM fund concept outlined in the Immigration Innovation Act of 2013 (I-Squared) into the comprehensive bill. The STEM fund should be part of the solution to solving our nation’s STEM education deficiencies.

Unfortunately, our country is not producing enough workers to fulfill the ever-growing talent needs of our most innovative companies. One recent study predicted that between 2010 and 2020 the American economy will annually produce more than 120,000 additional computing jobs that will require at least a bachelor’s degree, but the country’s higher education system is currently producing only 40,000 bachelor’s degrees in computer science annually. This example underscores the need for action to resolve this shortage in qualified candidates for well-paid, high skill jobs in every sector of the economy.

We can confront our nation’s shortcomings in STEM fields through an education fund that is designed to better prepare our students from kindergarten to post-graduate levels for the tech workforce. The STEM fund will be used to improve educational outcomes through strategic investments in students and teachers. When we have fully trained American workers in computer science, programming, and engineering, companies will have a greater domestic talent pool from which to fill highly skilled positions. This talent pool is integral to successfully developing the next generation of American leaders and innovators.

We thank you for your commitment to the American immigration system and again we recommend that you include the STEM fund in the legislation.

Regards,

The undersigned members of inSPIRE STEM USA:

Campaign for Environmental Literacy
The Center for Asian Pacific American Women
Code.org
Computing in the Core
EDC
Expedia
HACU
IBM
Microsoft
National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce
NHMA
NPRC
NSTA
The New England Council
STEMConnector
US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

The post inSPIRE STEM USA’s Letter to Gang of Eight Senators on Immigration Reform appeared first on inSPIRE STEM USA.

From a speech given by Caterpillar CEO Doug Oberhelman at an Illinois Business Immigration Coalition event in Chicago:

Today I want to talk about three of my favorite topics—competitiveness, innovation and accountability.

We know that U.S.-based companies need to be able to compete in an ever changing and growing global market place. That goes for any company. You don’t need to have a global footprint like Caterpillar to know this is true. Our companies need to be competitive, cities like Chicago need to be competitive, our state needs to be competitive and of course our country needs to be competitive.

We’ve seen our competition grow exponentially around the world.

When I joined Caterpillar in 1975, we really only had one significant non-U.S. competitor. We had many American competitors and for the most part we had a level playing field.

Times have changed.

Last week, I was in Beijing for a global economic conference. It’s always exciting to visit China, and it’s also a great reminder that our world is more competitive than ever.

Today there are more than 100 Chinese companies looking to be the next Caterpillar. And that’s just one country. We face a growing field of competitors from Korea, Europe, Japan and a few other countries too!

We aren’t just competing with these companies for customers, we are competing for talent. And I want the best talent in the world working at our global R&D headquarters near Peoria. We have to innovate to be competitive and that takes the best people.

When we recruit engineers from the University of Illinois, Purdue, Texas A and M, Stanford or wherever, we want the brightest talent. I really don’t care if that person was born in Chicago, or India, or England. I want that talent working for Caterpillar, not one of those competitors around the world.

After all, people are really the only competitive advantage we have, whether it’s a city, a country or a company. That’s certainly true for Caterpillar. It’s our people – our workforce – that truly sets us apart.

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Read the full text of the speech here »

The post Caterpillar: We Need Commonsense Immigration Reform Today appeared first on inSPIRE STEM USA.

The New England Council is urging Congress to address the shortage of highly skilled workers in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) fields as they pursue comprehensive immigration reform. In a letter sent today to all members of the New England Congressional delegation, the Council urged members to support the provisions put forth in “Immigration Innovation Act of 2013,” referred to as the “I-Squared” bill to address the STEM skills gap with both short term and long term solutions.

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Read The New England Council’s letter to Senator Christopher Murphy in Support of i-Squared »

Read the entire article at The New England Council’s “The Brett Briefing” Blog »

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