Microsoft chairman calls US immigration curbs harmful to competitiveness
March 8, 2007
Microsoft (NAS: MSFT; HKSE: 4338) chairman Bill Gates has said that the competitiveness of the United States in the global market could be compromised by setting restrictions on the number of skilled workers allowed to enter the US each year. In testimony before the US Senate committee on health, education, labor and pensions, Mr. Gates expressed the concern that US immigration policies that have been tightened in recent years are “driving away” the “best and the brightest” from seeking education and work in the US.
Mr. Gates further held that other nations are taking advantage of the new, more restrictive policies to lure highly skilled workers to their countries. These are individuals who, Mr. Gates contends, would otherwise wish to live, study, and work in the United States. He said that he sees the detrimental effects of current US policies, put in place at least partly out of concern about terrorism, every day at Microsoft.
Currently, the US issues only 65,000 visas for skilled workers to enter the US each year, while it only issuese a total of 140,000 “green cards” granting permanent resident status each year. Mr. Gates said that while there are concerns that US workers could lose jobs to immigrants if the rules are loosened, he also said that highly skilled foreign workers could also help create new jobs in the US.
The warning came amid a more general concern from Mr. Gates that if the US does not act soon to improve education and invest in basic scientific research, the US would lose its ability to compete with the rest of the world. He said that the data he has seen suggests that the nation is currently not making the improvements that are necessary, especially in high schools.
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