High-Tech Labor Shortage

American employers say that a severe shortage of skilled high-tech workers is delaying projects and reducing expansion plans. To avoid economic disaster, they want Congress to admit more foreign workers. But critics, including the Clinton administration, say employers are simply seeking more foreign workers because they are cheaper. The critics say the answer to a shortage of skilled workers is training or retraining American workers and hiring more women, minorities and unemployed or underemployed technical workers. As Congress debates the issue, many employers say that the globalization of high-tech jobs is inevitable, and that U.S. borders eventually should be opened to any skilled workers.