Jerry Brown: “I want to address the primary argument put forth by supporters of this bill that a shortage exists of the workers needed…”

“I want to address the primary argument put forth by supporters of this bill that a shortage exists of the workers needed to maintain American leadership in the information technology industries. As usual, anecdotes far outweigh hard evidence in the debate. I thought it might be useful to examine more closely the data that is available. Determining a labor shortage is a fiendishly difficult exercise, even for labor economists. Defining the types of workers involved, where they get their education, the tasks employers want them to do, and the overall economic climate are just some of the items that go into the analysis. None of these factors remain static, and it is difficult to track them on a real-time basis. It is no wonder that John Bishop, the Chair of the Department of Human Resource Studies at Cornell, has warned us to be careful in adopting policies to address perceived shortages. This is not a policy that can be easily reversed.”