The U.S. has an engineering shortage, right? Well, not exactly, no.
美国缺软件工程师吗？其实不缺。
While the titans of Silicon Valley are calling for immigration reform that will allow them to nab foreign computer gurus to fill open engineering jobs, one of their own has crunched the numbers and discovered that may not be necessary.
尽管硅谷巨头们纷纷要求美国政府修改移民政策，允许他们聘请外国电脑专家来填补软件工程师职位的缺口，但一家硅谷公司的数据统计却显示，或许并没有这个必要。
Bright.com, a California-based company that uses big data analysis to pair job seekers with employers, released a report last month that showed that the supposed dearth of high-skilled engineers in the United States may be fiction after all. In fact, Bright's analysis reveals that for the top 10 jobs where H-1B visas are requested, only three do not currently have enough qualified American job seekers to satisfy demand.
位于加州的Bright.com公司利用大数据分析法把求职者与招聘者进行了配对，然后在上个月发布了一份报告。报告显示，认为美国本土缺乏高水平软件工程师的说法可能根本站不住脚。根据这家公司的统计，对美国H-1B工作签证需求量最大的前十类工作中，只有三类缺乏合格的本国求职者前来应聘。
"The main conclusion that we need more foreign tech workers is not true," says David Hardtke, Bright's chief scientist. "We need to be more targeted in our use of this program."
Bright.com公司首席科学家大卫•哈德泰克认为：“有人认为我们需要更多的外国科技工作者，但这种看法并不正确。我们在雇佣外国求职者时应该更有针对性。”
To be sure, using data to argue about contentious policy issues should always prompt skepticism. It's too easy to focus on particular aspects of any data analysis to prove one's point and overlook those items that may raise more questions.
要注意的是，每当有人利用数据证明有争议的政策问题时，总会引起一些人的怀疑。因为我们很容易过度关注某些方面的数据分析以证明某人的观点，从而忽视了其它可能导致更多问题的因素。
Bright took great care to avoid several pitfalls and make its data applicable on a large scale. It looked at H-1B applications and rewrote company's job descriptions to make them more generic (it is common for a company to write a job description so specific that only one temporary worker fits the qualifications). Using the company's proprietary Bright Score, which takes into account education and fit as well as proximity to the job, the data crunchers then compared the job descriptions with 1 million active U.S.-based jobseekers (out of a total pool of about 20 million) over 45 days
有鉴于此，Bright特别小心地避免了一些陷阱，而且使它的数据适用于更宏观的层面。这家公司首先研究了美国的签证的申请数据，然后把企业招聘所用的工作描述进行了修改，把它写得更宽泛了一些（因为对于一家公司来说，把工作描述写得非常详细是很普遍的现象，导致通常只有临时工才能满足这些苛刻的要求。）然后它再利用自己独有的Bright Sccore系统，把教育背景和求职者对职位的符合程度考虑进去，然后把这些工作描述与45天内美国的100万名活跃求职者（来自2000万人的样本库）进行了配对。
What they found was both troubling yet unsurprising. The most requested position when applying for an H-1B is computer systems analyst. Although Bright determined that this position has few qualified American candidates, it is also a lower-paying job compared to jobs like software engineer and requires only a two-year degree. The H-1B program is designed to recruit high-skilled workers.
分析结果并不令人吃惊，但是颇有些让人苦恼。对H-1B签证需求量最大的岗位是电脑系统分析师。虽然Bright公司认为，对于这个职业，很少有美国求职者算得上合格，但是与软件工程师等职业相比，它毕竟是一个相对低薪的工作，而且只需要一个两年制的学历。要知道，H-1B项目主要目的是为了招揽高技术人才。
For higher paying jobs, like computer programmer, software developer, and electronics engineer, Bright found more than one domestic job candidate for every H-1B application. And for financial analysts, the company found 12 local candidates for every visa application.
对于电脑编程师、软件开发人员和电气工程师等高薪岗位，每有一个外国人申请一次这些岗位的H-1B签证，就有一个以上的美国求职者也符合岗位要求。而对于每一个金融分析师的H-1B签证来说，则有12名美国求职者符合同等要求。
That evidence seems enough to get xenophobes up in arms, but these analyses are complicated. Ask tech companies in New York City or Silicon Valley if the pool of applicants for programmers is meeting their needs, and their first question will be, "Why? Please tell me you know someone who is looking for a job."
这个结果可能会激起某些人的排外主义情绪，不过在这些分析结果的背后隐藏着复杂的现象。如果你问纽约或硅谷的科技公司，找编程工作的求职者是否符合要求，他们的第一个反应就是：“如果你知道哪个美国人正在找这种工作，请你告诉我。”
"You have to talk about two worlds: Silicon Valley and the rest of America," Hardtke says. "There is, indeed, a shortage of tech workers in the Bay Area.".
哈德泰克说：“必须要和两个世界对话，一个是硅谷，一个是硅谷以外的美国其它地方。旧金山湾区的确存在科技人员短缺的问题。”
Another aspect of Bright's report that surprised the data scientists was that the average salary for H-1B workers was higher than the median in each field. It would make sense that an employer would try to offer a lower salary to an employee it helped move to the United States since that employee also gains the benefit of getting sponsored, but the analysis found the opposite.
Bright公司的报告还有一个让数据分析师们感到惊讶的地方，那就是不管在哪个领域，持H-1B签证的外国技术人员的平均工资都要高于该领域的中值。如果说科技企业给H-1B签证持有者的工资比较低的话，那还比较好理解，毕竟企业还为这些外籍员工提供了额外担保。但是这份分析显示，外籍员工的工资只高不低。
You could argue that this is evidence that these foreign workers are particularly valuable to their employers. The competition to recruit them is so fierce that they are actually commanding higher wages than their American counterparts.
大家可能认为，这恰恰证明这些外籍员工对于企业的价值有多么高。正因为各个公司抢着要他们，所以他们提出的工资水平也比美国同行高一些。
But you can also look at the results another way. The government requires companies to pay H-1B workers the median wage for the positions they fill. If the top position filled by H-1Bs is the lower-paid systems analyst position, it's possible that companies might be publicly posting openings for lower-wage jobs and filling them with extremely skilled programmers who are eager to work in the U.S.
但我们也可以从另一个角度看这个问题。美国政府要求，企业付给H-1B签证持有者的工资水平应该是其所在领域的中等水平。如果对H-1B签证需求量最大的是低薪的系统分析师岗位，那么企业有可能是故意公布这些低薪工作，吸引那些技术极为熟练、但又极为向往在美国工作的编程人员。
It's clear that employers are misusing the H-1B program based on the types of jobs they are looking to fill. Why wouldn't they try to save some cash in the process?
显然企业在通过选择性公布工作岗位来滥用H-1B签证政策。他们为什么不在这个过程中省些钱呢？
The biggest users of these visas are not the tech companies that are calling for an increase in the quotas. They are outsourcing firms that hire foreign workers and loan them to other companies.
H-1B签证的最大用户并不是那些呼吁增加此类签证的科技公司，而是那些雇佣了外籍员工，然后把他们“借”给其他企业的外包公司。
So why are so many tech CEOs getting behind fwd.us, the organization lobbying to increase the number of H-1B visas? Through largely unbiased analysis of a huge quantity of data, Bright -- which employs two H-1B workers -- seems to have ruled out the more altruistic reasons.
那么，为什么有那么多的科技企业CEO跟在游说组织fud.us后头，试图说服政府增加H-1B签证数量呢？通过对大量数据的无偏分析，Bright公司排除了毫不利己、专门利人的原因——Bright公司自己就有两名H-1B员工。
Policymakers ought to probe the need for foreign technology workers and the intentions of those looking to hire them. A good start would be a close examination of the job titles, the actual roles, and the actual salaries of H-1B workers to see if this program has actually become a tool to drive down wages.
政策制定者们应该认真调查企业对于外籍科技员工的实际需求量，以及企业试图雇佣外籍员工的动机。作为一个好的开始，政府不妨首先严格检查这些企业提供的工作岗位、实际角色，以及H-1B员工的真实工资水平，看看这项计划是否真的变成了一个变相降低工资的工具。
It's also a good to idea to do a cost analysis of hiring domestically vs. internationally. The cost of hiring an H-1B worker is about $5,000. Using a recruiter for a domestic hire costs four times as much.
此外，不妨对雇佣本国员工和外籍员工的成本做一个分析比较。雇佣一个H-1B外籍员工的成本大概是5000美元，而雇佣美国员工的成本则是它的四倍之多。
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