Gates searches for best, brightest

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates made a strong business case for immigration reform before members of Congress, who should be laser-focused on steering the U.S. economy through a downturn.

Arguments for protectionism, so fashionable on the presidential campaign trail, break down when it comes to solving the per-ennial shortage of highly skilled workers. Gates argues the United States' global technology leadership is endangered by limits on how many highly trained foreign workers, especially scientists and computer engineers, can be hired by American companies. He also wants improvements to the education system.

The United States has an annual quota of 65,000 temporary H-1B visas for skilled workers and 20,000 for foreign students. Last year, all of the available visas were snapped up within eight weeks, leaving with unfilled jobs employers who can't find the workers domestically. About 7 percent of Microsoft's new workers hired in the past five years obtained H-1B visas.

In July, Microsoft announced plans to open a software-development center in Vancouver, B.C., in part to help the company "recruit and retain highly skilled people affected by immigration issues in the U.S."

The U.S. Senate passed a comprehensive immigration-reform bill that would have increased H-1B visas to 115,000 last year. But the concept was a casualty of bitter House disagreement over what to do about low-skilled workers.

On Wednesday, one California congressman, obviously clueless about Microsoft's generous salaries and benefits, suggested its problems would be solved if the company paid more. Other critics raise the specter of American-trained foreign workers going home only to compete with American companies.

Those shortsighted arguments ignore the cost of lost commercial opportunity when a computer-engineering job goes unfilled, plus the four to five jobs needed to support it.

Gates admits he wants to hire the best and the brightest here — but there aren't enough of them to hire.