HIGH DEMAND FOR H-1B WORKERS IN METROPOLITAN AREAS

Another story broke recently in the news reiterating the fact that American businesses cannot fill some jobs fast enough and there are not enough qualified employees out there. Most of these jobs include highly paid positions in science, including computer science, engineering and healthcare.
Most of the demand is in metropolitan areas that are mostly populated, such as the tri-state area around New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania who have the greatest need for the highly skilled H-1B visa workers.
According to this new report, called 'The Search for Skills: Demanding for H-1B Immigrant Workers in U.S. Metropolitan Areas', by the Brookings Institute, the bulk of the demand for H-1B workers, from the Northeast U.S., accounts for 16.3 percent of all H-1B visas issued. The top four metropolitan areas, each with between 14,000 to 18,000 H-1B visa worker requests, are Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, California, and the greater Washington, D.C., area.
The report recommends key policy changes, such as creating an independent commission that can recommend timely changes to immigration policy to respond more quickly to high-demand job markets (to possibly increase the cap), target H-1B visa fees to geographical areas to upgrade the skills of the existing workforce, especially where needed.
The report is available at: http://www.brookings.edu/research/reports/2012/07/18-h1b-visas-labor-immigration#overview Congress really needs to put its act together and increase the quota. It is really hurting businesses and individuals alike.