The current shortage of trained analytics workers can be easily relieved, if only the United States would issue visas for them. The Wall Street Journal reports that over 200,000 qualified candidates will be available for employment from India alone but the total number of available H1B work visas issued each year is limited to 85,000.
That number is threatened further by the political landscape in Washington, where the Trump White House has indicated it wants to restrict the issuance of more H1B visas.
Angus Loten filed this report for the Wall Street Journal:
Chief information officers and other tech recruiters at U.S. firms battling over coveted analytics workers may soon get a reprieve, according to a report by Bain & Co. If they can secure enough foreign-worker visas, that is.
The global supply of information-technology professionals with advanced analytics skills is projected to double between late 2018 and late 2020 to one million workers, led by jobseekers in India, the report said.
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For U.S. employers, one potential stumbling block identified in the Bain report is attracting workers from the country where advanced-analytics talent is expected to grow the fastest: India.
Bain estimates the number of qualified candidates coming from India will climb to more than 200,000 by 2020, up from 65,000 in 2018, outpacing the talent supply in China, Western Europe and North America.
That can present a challenge for U.S.-based employers, since the number of work visas issued to foreign professional has declined in recent years.
“Visa issues are real,” Mr. Brahm said. He said that is prompting many U.S. companies to develop talent supply chains for analytics that bring more of the work to countries like India. As much as 75% of advanced analytics work done by third parties “is being done remotely and is fairly portable globally,” he added.
