Tonight on the CBS Evening News, DOW Chemical CEO, Andrew Liveris, stated that there are over a million Engineering/maths/Tech jobs available in the US, and "only 200,000 graduates to fill them"
Where the hell are these jobs? As a forcibly retired engineer for the past 2 years, I'm damned if I see any of them. I've even cut my rate by as much as 30%, and STILL can't get on. I'm not the only one--there are large numbers of us out there. Rates are dropping like flies, and there are still unemployed engineers.
He hinted at the problem/solution when he stated "The starting salary for a Chemical Engineer is $85,000. " then went on to state that he had no choice but to go offshore. They then went to a bit on Infosys University, a purpose-designed educational facility by the company in Bangalore, India..
The last company I was with let it out in a meeting that they forgot I was a contract guy--for engineers, direct hires were costing them $130/hour, contractors $110/hour, the Russian company $50/hour, and InfoTech (an Indian engineering firm, part of InfoSys) was $35/hour (all per head).
This is not the first time firms have tried to make it look like we can't fulfill the need, so they need to hire more foreign citizens, and thus need more Work Visas. It's a pack of lies, and they know it.
When you hire a $35/hour engineering firm, you get $15-$20 per hour engineers. Boeing has discovered this with the 787, and still ignores it. It took 2 full time guys at my last job just to monitor what the Indians were doing, and we usually had to do it again--but they're cheap...
