Ralph Lee Abraham: “Virtually every study that I have seen--and as the principal sponsor of the legislation when it was in the Senate, I…”

“Virtually every study that I have seen--and as the principal sponsor of the legislation when it was in the Senate, I made most of those available as part of the Record--indicates that, indeed, we have a very severe shortage in these high-tech worker job slots. Virginia Tech University conducted a recent study which indicated over 340,000 vacancies in information technology positions that exist today in this country. Our Department of Commerce conducted a study which revealed it is anticipated that in each of the next 10 years we will generate over 130,000 new information technology jobs and yet the combined resources of our colleges, universities, and job training programs and high schools is only likely to fill a fraction of those every year. This is a severe problem, and it is especially severe at this time.”