TESTIMONY

by Diana Torres, Vice President,
Global Competitiveness
PARTNERSHIP FOR NEW YORK CITY

New York, New York
April 10, 2008

PDF 75K

Testimony Before The New York City Council Immigration Committee

Good morning. Thank you Chair Stewart, and members of the committee for the opportunity to testify today — and for holding this hearing examining a critical, yet often overlooked piece of our city’s economy.

The Partnership for New York City represents the city's business leadership and its largest private sector employers. In March 2008, the Partnership published Winning the Global Race for Talent: How U.S. Visa & Immigration Policies Threaten the New York Economy & Cost American Jobs. I have provided a copy of the report with my testimony today.

Our central theme is that the New York economy is more dependent than ever on immigrants, whether they come here to study, to work or to conduct business. Contrary to what many people think, immigrants are helping to create jobs for Americans. The Partnership supports investment in education and training to better prepare our domestic workforce for jobs in the global economy, but America's future equally depends on keeping our doors open to people with skills, talents and dreams from around the world.  

An immediate concern for New York is the Federal cap on H-1B visas for highly skilled professional workers. West Coast technology companies have long argued that they need more H-1B visas to fill jobs for which there are an inadequate number of trained specialists in the U.S. What we discovered is that employers in New York City and the Tri-State metropolitan region have an equally urgent need for professional visas. Our members report that entire functions and divisions of companies are moving to cities like London where it is far easier to bring the talent from around the world into the country.  

Employers in the Tri-State region currently employ more immigrants with H-1B visas than the entire state of California—currently a total of 21% of all H-1Bs. The demand for these foreign skilled workers is not confined to technology companies, but includes businesses in financial services, media, energy, accounting, law, education, health care and architecture.

Only 11% of the H-1B visas granted in New York City went to employees of the city’s Fortune 1000 companies. Most go to small businesses that need specific language skills and international relationships to connect them to global markets. 

Contrary to the concerns of many, foreign professional workers are not taking jobs from Americans. Less than 1% of the nation’s workforce is made up of H-1B visa holders—and these foreign employees are actually creating many American jobs. For example, one of our Partnership members who came to the U.S. twenty years ago on an H-1B visa founded a company that today has 20,000 employees. In another case, 900 U.S. jobs were safeguarded because of work done by a single H-1B visa holder. These types of contributions by immigrants to the American economy are repeated across the neighborhoods of New York City and State.

The Partnership wishes to play a constructive role in dealing with the wider issue of illegal immigration and border security, but we firmly believe that American competitiveness, economic growth and job creation should be the first focus of U.S. immigration policy. As a result, our report recommends a series of measures that would help American businesses to compete.

Currently the cap on H-1B visas is not in line with the number of applications received. We believe that allowing the H-1B visa cap to respond to market demand would be a crucial step in the fight for international intellectual capital.  Additionally, enacting an exemption from the H-1B cap for students with higher degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) subjects would allow the best and brightest graduates to stay and work here in the United States.

Beyond H-1B visa reform, the Partnership supports the recently announced Department of Homeland Security Rule extending the term of Optional Practical Training visas from 12 months to 29 months, although we would welcome the expansion of the fields of study to include the financial services industry. 

We are pleased that the City Council is examining this issue in its oversight capacity, and the Partnership stands ready to assist wherever possible to ensure that any new immigration policies crafted in Washington will work to increase not only New York’s, but the nation’s competitiveness in the global economy. 

Thank you for your time, and I would be happy to answer any questions you may have. 

The Partnership for New York City (www.pfnyc.org) is a network of business leaders dedicated to enhancing the economy of the five boroughs of New York City and maintaining the city’s position as the center of world commerce, finance and innovation.