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90 percent of newly trained computer professionals in the US are without jobs
29th March 1999 Tushar J. Mehta @ieee.org
95 percent new comers on bench in the US By K Jayadev, Hyderabad, India Express Computer, March 29, 1999 Planning to fly to America after completing your computer course? Think again! A recent survey says that over 90 percent of the newly trained computer professionals in the US are without jobs. This might create a furore in the entire IT training segment in India, particularly in Hyderabad. Though the computer institutes in Hyderabad continue to lure gullible students by promising to find them placement in the US, the survey conducted by Prof Avadhanulu of University of Michigan points out that these institutes are only taking the students for a ride. Prof Avadhanulu is regularly keeping track of the trends in the US IT industry and this year, he has come out with certain startling facts during his survey. The survey indicates that there aren't as many jobs as claimed by the Indian computer training institutes. It says, of the 33,657 people on the bench in the US, 95 percent are new comers. The survey found that the people on the bench included 47 percent mainframe, 23 percent PeopleSoft, 11 percent GUI tools and three percent Oracle professionals. Till December 1998, as many as 4,78,900 candidates were not issued Green cards by the INS. Prof Avadhanulu has also pointed out the status of various leading software companies which are on a retrenchment spree. It says Mastek is sending 900 employees back to India, Shell Houston Texas sacked 400 consultants, PeopleSoft world headquarters in CA booted out 780 consultants, MCI CidarRapids, IOWA did major layoff - 3,700 consultants, Texas Shamrock Sanantonio sacked 9000 employees, TCS closed six offices outside India, Lucent Atlanta sacked 700 consultants, P&G Cincinnati did layoff about 140 consultants, Enron Dallas TX terminated 340 consultants, AT&T Piscataway, NJ relieved 300 consultants. On the other hand, Microsoft and Sun Microsystems have not effected major changes relating to job. While this is history in the US, the fate of the people who are waiting for H1 visas hangs in balance. The US Consulate at Madras has rejected 16,000 H1 visas in 1998 and most of these belong to Hyderabad. Over 70,000 people were awaiting tickets in India, because of non-availability of projects. The survey said that India would soon be hit by a major unemployment problem and it would intensify in 2000. Prof Avadhanulu mentioned that the efforts of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu were going waste and even the Hi-Tec City may be closed down soon. Though this seems like a pessimistic way of looking at things, if one were to believe the survey of Prof Avadhanulu, it is indeed shocking. The time has come for these computer training shops in Hyderabad to give a serious thought before talking about the job opportunities in the US. Even candidates should be aware that the seminars and other programmes which are meant to 'educate about the opportunities in the US' are mere farce.
