Lansing's plan for immigration and Detroit?

[Detroitman32]

What I have tried to explain is that I agree they are not the same. My point is that they are in fact conflicting. Which is the problem.

We have a labor over supply, not a shortage. Importing 50k new unemployed [[because he's asking for the waivers on employment requirement) STEM people from out of the country is not going to accomplish anything.


That is the point though, THERE IS NO ENGINEERING/STEM SHORTAGE. there is a shortage of CHEAP STEM'ers.

The "EPI" is not an actual think-tank, but a labor union hack front. There is a STEM shortage, and everyone knows this. The idea of bringing in high-skilled immigrants to Detroit has been an idea I've supported for a long, long time, and I hope it comes through.

[mwilbert]

The "EPI" is not an actual think-tank, but a labor union hack front. There is a STEM shortage, and everyone knows this. The idea of bringing in high-skilled immigrants to Detroit has been an idea I've supported for a long, long time, and I hope it comes through.

This is one of those things that "everyone knows" that isn't actually true. If there were a shortage of people with these skills, wages for people with those skills would be rising, which they are not. There is probably some shortage of skilled people in particular engineering disciplines and particular areas of computer science, but there is no generic STEM shortage, and there is a glut of people with chemistry and biology degrees. Most people getting STEM degrees now have to find jobs outside of STEM fields. See, for instance,

http://spectrum.ieee.org/at-work/edu...isis-is-a-myth If you are interested in this topic, this article also has an extensive set of reference for further investigation.

And I say this as someone who is in favor of the immigration proposal.

[Honky Tonk]

This is one of those things that "everyone knows" that isn't actually true. If there were a shortage of people with these skills, wages for people with those skills would be rising, which they are not. There is probably some shortage of skilled people in particular engineering disciplines and particular areas of computer science, but there is no generic STEM shortage, and there is a glut of people with chemistry and biology degrees. Most people getting STEM degrees now have to find jobs outside of STEM fields. See, for instance,

http://spectrum.ieee.org/at-work/edu...isis-is-a-myth If you are interested in this topic, this article also has an extensive set of reference for further investigation.

And I say this as someone who is in favor of the immigration proposal.

I think the issue is people, including those who wrote the article, want to deal in absolutes. Take the term "Engineer" from the term STEM. In certain engineering fields, there probably ARE an abundance of certain types. In other engineering fields, there might be a shortage. I too think Ricky's STEM immigration idea is a good one, but he has to be careful on two accounts. One, that the end result actually benefits Detroit. And two, He doesn't create an overabundance of highly skilled, educated people, on assistance. How to orchestrate all that, AND get them to remain in Detroit proper, is beyond me.