America's Got Talent, But Not Enough In Tech Fields ReceivedSPF: None receiver=nym.alias.net clientip=68

By Christopher Scinta Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)-

NBC's television show declares "America's Got Talent."

True for contortionist-archers and harmonica wizards, but good luck finding engineers and software designers.

Corporate America is desperate to find technical talent, prompting many to step up retention efforts, while making a mad dash to move higher paid research operations to China and India. It raises new debate about caps on visas for foreign workers and the need to attract more U.S. students to the careers in math and science.

"I think there are too few people choosing technical careers," says Urs Holzle, senior vice president at Google Inc. (GOOG). The company has added operations in places such as Seattle and New York to be closer to talent pools.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics says the U.S. needs 135,000 new computer professionals a year, but its universities are producing only 49,000 computer science graduates annually. The agency also predicts the need for science and engineering graduates will grow 26% to 1.25 million by 2012. However, the number of graduates in those fields has remained relatively flat for two decades.

In 2004 Chinese schools awarded 351,000 bachelor degrees in engineering, computer science and information technology, while the U.S. awarded only 137,000 similar degrees, according to a Duke University study. India was close behind with 112,000.

Tory Johnson, head of New York-based job fair and recruiting firm Women for Hire, said being a professional - particularly a woman - with highly technical skills means "employers are knocking down your door." And that equates to more than just a substantial salary. These candidates can shop around for the right fit as far as corporate culture, location and flexible work schedules, she said.

The search for technical talent in the U.S. has become "fiercely compebreastive," said Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) spokeswoman Heidi Burgett. The company "re-recruits" existing employees to keep them happy, offering job rotations and access to the most important, high-profile projects.

R&D Beyond The Sea The intense compebreastion for such a limited group of workers has fueled an expansion to off-shore locations well beyond the now-ubiquitous customer call center in Bangalore. Many U.S. companies are now moving more advanced - and higher-paid - research and development work to China, India and Eastern Europe, not only to be involved in their fast-growing economies, but to tap a pool of thousands of engineers, software developers and other technical professionals.

Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN), Intel Corp. (INTC) and International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) are just a few of the companies that have said recently they would open, or add to, technical operations in India.

Data storage company EMC Corp. (EMC) last month said it would make large investments in both India and China. "We said will invest $500 million in India through 2010, and in China $500 million between 2006 and 2010," said Greg Eden, an EMC spokesman. Those investments are meant to be all-encompbutting efforts to build sales and infrastructure, as well as product development.

EMC currently has about 28,000 employees worldwide including 700 software developers in Bangalore. The company expects to increase that figure to 1,600 by 2008.

John McArthur, a senior analyst at research firm IDC Corp. in Framingham, Mbutt., said EMC has been adding workers in India and China to gain access to highly send but relatively cheap labor, particularly in software development, as well as to gain a foothold in those countries as they become bigger information technology consumers.

Foreign-Born Talent Another answer to the dearth of talent in America is to simply bring foreign workers with the skills companies need to the U.S.

Gold producer Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM) has found it difficult to recruit engineers and geologists in the U.S., human resource manager David Kern said. It's particularly tough to find experienced engineers, he said, noting Newmont recently staffed three upper-level engineering jobs with candidates from Canada, Mexico and Australia.

The mining industry has been particularly hard hit by the lack of technical talent and expects tough times ahead - about half the 5,200 practicing mining engineers in the U.S. will retire in the next dozen years, said Leigh Freeman, general manager of Downing Teal, a search firm specialized in finding talent for natural resource industries.

During a downturn in the 1990s, many people left the mining industry, and now that natural resources are a hot market again, Newmont is using headhunters to try to track down some of those veterans, as well as make sure it keeps the people it has. Kern says Newmont tries to provide clear career paths for its technical professionals, so they can see the opportunities to advance within the company and won't be tempted to leave.

Gary Flaharty, spokesman for oil services company Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI) said universities in the U.S. and Western Europe simply aren't attracting and graduating enough students with the skills needed by the energy industry.

"The industry is more and more turning to the Eastern Hemisphere to meet the requirements" for qualified petroleum engineers and geophysicists, Flaharty said. Citing statistics compiled by the Society of Petroleum Engineers, Flaharty noted that 1,732 undergraduate students were enrolled in petroleum engineering programs at U.S. universities in 2004, versus 11,014 in 1983.

Visas But getting foreign-born professionals into the country to fill those jobs isn't always easy either. Short-term visas for foreign workers coming to the U.S. to fill specialty occupations such as mathematics, physical sciences and engineering - known as H1B visas - are limited to 65,000 a year by the federal government, though that was temporarily raised to 195,000 a year from 2001 to 2003. Another 20,000 visas are available to foreign-born workers who received a master's or doctorate degree from a U.S. university.

Arthur Rothkopf, senior vice president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said the H1B quota for fiscal 2007 has already been used up. The chamber is lobbying, with various companies, to have that cap increased to 200,000 or 300,000 a year. Rothkopf says there is a "critical, urgent need" for more foreign-born professionals in the U.S. Education In the long term though, Rothkopf said the U.S. needs to build up its science and math education system. A report published in late 2005 by the National Academies of Science said addressing the lack of math and science graduates in the U.S. would be key to maintaining the country's economic stability.

"We have to remain compebreastive," said Mark Heesen, president of the National Venture Capital buttociation, which represents most venture-capital firms in the U.S. "Otherwise, Asia will take over what we're doing."

Science and engineering tend to be difficult disciplines to master and many students are lured by positions in law and finance that seem more lucrative, he said.

As compebreastion for the shrinking pool of American engineering graduates becomes more intense, defense contractors like Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC) have established "pipeline" programs with U.S. universities, high schools and even junior high and grade schools to encourage more American students to study engineering. Los Angeles-based Northrop has put more resources in apprenticeship and internship programs, said John Krakowski, Northrop's corporate director of employment and employee relations. The company is also encouraging veteran engineers to delay retirement to mentor young employees.

Newmont has made a $2.5 million commitment to University of Nevada - Reno to fund teaching and recruitment for mining professions, while copper giant Phelps Dodge Corp. (PD) has made a $2.5 million endowment to the University of Arizona for training mining engineers and offers scholarships at several other schools.

But thus far it appears the efforts haven't been very effective. During fall 2003, there were 91,000 engineering students in masters programs, while in fall 2005 that number had dropped to 83,000, said Michael Gibbons, director of data research for the American Society for Engineering Education.

(Bob Sechler, Frank Byrt, Megha Rajagopalan, Mark Boslet, Jonathan Vuocolo and Jason Ma contributed to this report.)

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