H-1B workers outnumber unemployed techies - InfoWorld.com

The U.S. said it is "prepared to demonstrate to the court the manner in which the defendant's (Visions Systems Group, an IT firm in South Plainfield, NJ) schemes, along with similar schemes by similar companies have substantially deprived U.S. citizens of employment." The government then points out that "in January of 2009, the total number of workers employed in the information technology occupation under the H-1B program substantially exceeded the 241,000 unemployed U.S. citizen workers within the same occupation."

The U.S. government's brief doesn't explain to what extent fraud is responsible for tech worker unemployment, or cite sources for its data. Estimates of the size of the tech labor force depend on what government labor categories are included.

While I don't disagree in the least, it will be interesting to see where more information on the data the U.S. is using to make this case. Cases like this may be more prevalent thanks to an amendment to the recent stimulus bill U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) presented and helped pass requiring any firm receiving TARP money to meet a higher standard for employing H-1B workers by automatically categorizing those firms as 'H-1B dependent', a status which "include attesting to actively recruiting American workers; not displacing American workers with H-1B visa holders; and not replacing laid off American workers with foreign workers."

Although I am on record as not having a lot of faith in 'good faith' measures where it's already been shown to be a flawed approach (as in the H-1B program), I *do* like tying requirements to TARP money (just a shame they didn't tie bonuses to it as well...)

Maybe Obama should send some TARP money Microsoft's way as well...

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Microsoft Layoffs Kickstarts Major H-1B Debate - THG.com

“Microsoft has a moral obligation to protect … American workers by putting them first during these difficult economic times,”

Wow - What a concept. Milton Friedman is probably spinning like a lathe.

Of course, having been strongly opposed to the abuses of the H1B visa program for years now, I'm totally inclined to have Senator Grassley's back on this. But its just as likely that the Free Trade pundits in the Obama administration (and our 'allies' who benefit greatly from this program) will sound the trumpets against this tack on the grounds that its too protectionist.

Vista's legal fine print raises red flags - TheStar

When Microsoft introduced Windows 95 more than a decade ago, it adopted the Rolling Stones "Start Me Up" as its theme song. As millions of consumers contemplate the company's latest upgrade, the legal and technological restrictions may leave them singing "You Can't Always Get What You Want."

Read on...