The Trenton Times published the following article on June 7, 2014. To read the full article, click here.
Study: Trenton area growth in tech sector stymied by availability of foreign workers
By Jenna Pizzi/The Times of Trenton
on June 07, 2014 at 6:40 AMTRENTON — A new study released this week suggests that the greater Trenton area has lost out on growth in the tech sector because local companies have not been able to tap into pools of highly trained foreign workers.
The study, released by the Partnership for a New American Economy, a partnership of mayors and business leaders working toward immigration reform in the United States, looked at the years 2007 and 2008. Because not enough H1-B visas were available for foreign hires, potentially thousands of jobs that might have been created for both local workers and foreigners never came into existence, the study said.
The greater Trenton area had more than 6,000 computer-related tech jobs in 2005 and 2006, but 2,280 employees looking to work for companies in the area were denied the H-1B visas in 2007 and 2008, according to the study.
As a result of the large number of visa denials, the researchers estimate that the area lost between 456 and 801 potential jobs between 2009 and 2010 for U.S. born, college-educated employees and between 657 and more than 3,500 potential jobs for those without a bachelor’s degree.