Penn State Students Rioted for the Wrong Reasons: Where Are the Jobs?

By Joe Guzzardi
November 15, 2011

As most Americans know, last week thousands of Penn State University students rioted over head football coach Joe Paterno’s firing. But unless you live in Pennsylvania you probably don’t know that in February when Penn State regents announced a tenth consecutive tuition increase, only about 150 students out of 40,000 protested. During the last decade, Penn State tuition has nearly doubled to $15,000 for instate students.

One of the broad objectives of a college education is to learn the difference between what’s important (sharply higher tuition that forces some students to drop out and precludes others from applying) and what’s not (who coaches the football team).

What students at Penn State and elsewhere should also be focused on is why, even after paying more money every year, they can’t find a job after they graduate. To understand what’s led to their looming unemployed status, students would have to buck political correctness.

The major factors that have contribute to 9 percent unemployment are political miscalculations that have dried up domestic jobs by sending them overseas while, at the same time, importing foreign-born workers on temporary work visas.

Although it’s difficult to put an exact figure on how many jobs have been outsourced, one thing is certain. The Department of Labor grossly underestimates the total which is likely in the tens of millions.

Since 1970, when consumer electronics’ manufacturers first sent basic assembly tasks abroad, outsourcing has become an increasing popular corporate cost saving strategy. These jobs that include positions ranging in importance from airline maintenance to handling phone inquiries at credit card call centers are gone for good. For corporate America, doing business abroad is simply more lucrative. In the unlikely event that Congress might reconsider the adverse impact outsourcing has on American workers, the multinational companies have their lobbyists on retainer ready to remind them who funds their campaigns.

At precisely the same time that jobs have disappeared overseas, the federal government invited millions of foreign-born nationals to the United States and facilitated their arrival with a variety of non-immigrant visas, the most popular of which are the H-1B and the J-1.

The dire consequences of a liberal immigration policy vis a vis employment should be—but is not—readily apparent to anyone smart enough to get into a four-year university. For every work permit, automatically included with most non-immigrant visas, an American job is at risk.

Northeastern University Professor Andrew Sum, who directs the Center for Labor Market Studies, calculated that the impact of legal and illegal immigration on American workers is disastrous. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, from 2008 to 2010, the 1.1 million new migrants who entered America during that three-year period landed jobs even as U.S. household employment declined by 6.26 million. Said Sum: "Employers have chosen to use new immigrants over native-born workers and have continued to displace large numbers of blue-collar workers and young adults….”

Ironically, Penn State actively recruits J-1 and H-1B visa holders and offers, through its Global Connections’ program, to teach new arrivals English and provide them with tax assistance.

Good luck to anyone trying to make clear to students the connection between more immigration and fewer jobs. The longer students ignore the obvious, the harder it will be for them to become gainfully employed.

Joe Guzzardi has written editorial columns, mostly about immigration and related social issues, since 1986. He is a Senior Writing Fellow for Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) and his columns are syndicated in various U.S. newspapers and websites. Contact him at [email protected].