Who comes up with the names for these industry groups? The “Compete America” coalition is asking Congress for an increase in the number of H-1B Visas, allowing them to import more foreign workers, primarily in the IT sector.

A coalition of business and education groups is making a renewed push to persuade Congress to raise the number of skilled foreign workers allowed into the United States this year.

The coalition, which calls itself Compete America and whose members are drawn heavily from the technology industry, sent a letter to every member of Congress on Monday calling for an increase in both the number of so-called H-1B visas, which are used by skilled immigrants and the number of employment-based green cards given to foreign workers. – NY Times

While the companies are required to pay foreign wokers the prevailing wage, the practice tends to depress wages overall.

“We think that before raising the H-1B cap there should be reform of the H-1B system,” said Ronil Hira, vice president for career activities at IEEE-USA, a professional organization representing engineers and computer programmers.

The organization, which includes many immigrants among its ranks, is not opposed to legal immigration. But Mr. Hira said that the H-1B visa program, which requires companies to pay foreign workers wages comparable to those they pay American workers, was riddled with loopholes that allow employers to pay subpar wages to immigrants. That, in turn, depresses the wages of American workers, Mr. Hira said.

Zazona.com provides a database allowing you to search which companies are hiring foreign workers and what jobs they are taking, at what salary.

~Stef