A few weeks ago, John Miano of the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) wrote an op-ed on H-1B visas that paints a misleading picture of reality. Miano ignores a few critical facts.

First, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) describes every job in America in 22 broad occupational categories. For example, the BLS classification on “science” includes social sciences, for which employers utilize the H-1B category rarely.

Also, the most recent BLS report stating that the amount of jobs in STEM fields has decreased and are continuing to decrease represents data from only one year during a recession. Yet from 2005 to today, there has been 10.1% growth in Computer and Math jobs.

Second, sponsorship of H-1B workers reflects the diverse skill sets employers seek. In order to help find the most-qualified candidate—which sometimes happens to be a foreign national–employers use the H-1B visas category to fill jobs in the U.S. in a variety of occupations.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has hard data showing that 32.9% of new H-1B petitions were for systems analysis, programming, and other computer-related occupations (excluding engineers) and that the distribution for other occupations include these major groups:

• 12.5% for project leaders, professional managers, and other managers;
• 12.5% for teachers;
• 9.4% for medicine and health jobs;
• 9.3% for university professors;
• 8.6% for engineers (half were electrical or electronics engineers);
• 4.1% for life sciences occupations;
• 3.1% for mathematicians and physical scientists; and
• 2.2% for economists.

Third, the date the H-1B cap is reached each year is driven by market demand, not by employers’ interest in hiring cheap foreign labor. For example, in years when the H-1B cap was set at its highest level, the cap was never hit and only 40% of the allowable cap was used, even though the economy was booming.

Finally, H-1B sponsorship for those with Masters (or above) degrees in the natural sciences and engineering seems to match the facts about current skill set shortages. Based on BLS data, the National Bureau of Economic Research concluded that the U.S. economy will need to generate more highly-educated workers. Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce projected there will be 779,000 jobs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by 2018 requiring a Masters or above.  However, National Science Foundation data shows that the U.S. will only be able to produce 400,000 American Masters or PhDs in STEM fields by 2018.

The economy's hunger for innovation is relentless, and the need for high-skilled workers isn't going away. In the New Year, I hope people debating this issue all make a resolution to engage in discussions that do not misconstrue the facts.

Amy Nice is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Executive Director of Immigration Policy.