Demand for skilled workers
In an interview by the Detroit Free Press, Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer was asked him why he built a new development facility in Vancouver, Canada not far from Microsoft in Seattle. The CEO of Microsoft answered: “It is the immigration policy that limits the number of skilled IT workers to enter and work in the U.S. We open the facility in Vancouver because we cannot get enough visas for the best and the brightest to come to Seattle. The Canadian government has allowed more IT skilled people in their country so I open development facility there."
Microsoft employed about 90,000 software engineers. The company had about 60,000 in the United States and 30,000 in other countries. Microsoft has approx. 8,000 H1-B visa workers (Special visas for skilled workers to enter and work in the U.S). The company wanted to bring more but because the U.S has a limit on visa holders at approx. 15 percent of U.S workers, so Microsoft is already maximizing its use of the special visas.
To have more skilled workers to meet high demand, Microsoft open a new facility in Vancouver because Canada is willing to allow more skilled people into the country. Mr. Ballmer said: “I do not care whether they are American-born or Indian-born or Russian-born. If they have skills, I want to hire them and I want them to work in the U.S. That is why I am trying to get them visas to come to work for us. I want more people to come because I do not want to ship the job to India or elsewhere."
Instead of sending works to another country, Microsoft prefers to bring people to the U.S. Recently the company is sending managers all over the world to find IT skilled workers. Microsoft is not the only one, other companies such as Google, Oracles, Facebook, and Twitter etc. are doing the same. They are actively recruit graduates from top schools in India and China, and the competition for skilled workers has become very intense. At this time, Microsoft arranges to bring them to Canada, not very far from Microsoft so it can still get the best talents until the immigration law changes and allows more to enter the U.S.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
