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Greenspan Plugs for Education and Immigration
Over the past two decades this space has devoted a good deal of time to the need for more education as our economy gets more and more sophisticated. Now, the Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan has presented testimony before the House Education Committee. Greenpan particularly plugged for the importance of science and math education in our economy. Greespan told the committee, "With the conceptual demands on our workers continuing to rise, substantial further progress needs to be made in raising the analytic competency of our graduating high school seniors." The Fed Chairman observed that although there have been substantial reforms in teaching science and math subjects, the need for intellectual workers is only expected to rise in the coming years.
He said, "The proliferation of information technology throughout the economy in recent years has likely accelerated the shift in the skill requirements of many occupations away from routine work and towards non routine interactive and analytical tasks." He went on to say that technological innovation enhances the economy's foundation and improves workers' productivity. The Fed Chairman concluded by saying that workers must also be exposed to liberal arts so that they can better forge new ideas and have an adequate awareness of society's structures and values.
Then, the Fed Chairman shifted subjects slightly and put in a pitch for increased immigration for high tech jobs. He noted that the number of immigrants with strong technological skills coming into our country must be increased to meet the also increasing demand for skilled workers. The Fed Chairman said, "I support the increase of the number of people brought into this country, demand the acceleration of the technical basis which is the heart of our extraordinary expansion."
Greenspan repeated his call to the committee for more short-term visas to be issued. That, he believes, would allow more foreigners to come into our country as a means of addressing the shortage of skilled workers to keep the economy robust. He also noted that our longer-term objective should be to increase the number of "home grown" workers who are well equipped to meet the needs of our technologically driven economy. He said, "It is crucial that we bring the American educational skill level up to a point that we need not resort to off-shore to meet our domestics needs. We need to make certain that adequate skills are being taught to students at both the elementary and higher education levels. The bottom line is to make certain that the level of human skills is such that the expansion is not difficult to maintain."
Interestingly enough, in discussions with business people around the state, I have also found that many find it just plain difficult to get Americans to do certain entry-level jobs any more. This goes beyond the current tight labor market that everyone is talking about. There are jobs, some unpleasant, that many Americans, even at the lower end of the work ladder, are not willing to do any more. This also may require increased immigration in the years ahead.
I know this is a sensitive issue for many people. Now that we're all here, we want to lock the door and keep everyone else out. But remember, except for Native Americans, all of us came from somewhere else, and it strikes me as grossly unfair that now that we're "through the door," that we're unwilling to let other people come here and try for their share of the "American Dream."
And that's really what it's all about, after all. This country, not perfect by any means, is still the standard by which almost every other country in the world measures themselves. Anybody who's traveled anywhere in the world knows that, by and large, 90-some percent of all Americans live better than most of the rest of the world. Again, though not perfect, the freedoms we enjoy, the opportunities that are made available to most people without regard to race, religion or gender, is unmatched as compared to the rest of the globe. At the bottom line, I think that is our strength and what makes us so desirable as a destination.
In the meantime, we need help, both from skilled and unskilled foreign labor, and the truth of the matter is, we are big enough and rich enough to accommodate the newcomers, who, if history be our guide, will ultimately add to and enhance this wonderful melting pot miracle.
(Tom Butenhoff is a First Vice President with J. E.
Liss & Company in Milwaukee. The views are his and not necessarily
those of Liss Financial Services or the Job Connection/Hiring
Network.)