Reliable numbers on H1B visas, offshoring of jobs not available

A sobering report issued last month by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Industrial Performance Center criticized the U.S. government's ability to develop sound economic policy due to the extreme lack of data available concerning the offshoring of American jobs. The MIT report was released just three days after the Washington State Democratic Congressional delegation requested the U.S. immigration service to issue an annual report on the H1B visa program.

U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, along with U.S. Representatives Adam Smith, Jay Inslee, Jim McDermott, Rick Larson, Norm Dicks, and Brian Baird, requested the annual report in a letter to Emilio Gonzalez, Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is part of the Homeland Security Department. Since 1998, the law has required that an annual H1B visa report be issued to Congress. According to the letter, however, it has not been issued to Congress in more than three years.

Source: WashTech Labor News.

Related:

• MIT Industrial Performance Center Offshoring Working Group Final Report (PDF)
• Overview of the H-1B Visa program

If outsourcing and offshoring jobs is a net win for our economy, as globalization advocates (and I count myself in their number, incidentally) insist, then why on earth is our government apparently afraid of releasing the numbers?

Good God, please don't tell me that Lou Dobbs and Pat Buchanan know what they're talking about.