Roundtable airs immigration, research funding issues
A group of business and university leaders called on the U.S. government Wednesday to fix broken immigration policies that are interfering with efforts to recruit the world’s best and brightest. With federal budget cuts looming, the group also asked officials to recognize that government-funded research at universities and in industry is a key driver of economic growth. “There are jobs in the United States today that are open because we don’t have the skilled workforce to [fill] them,” said Ellen Kullman, president, chair, and chief executive officer of chemical giant DuPont. “If we want to continue to create economic growth, we have to fill those jobs with the best and the brightest, wherever they come from, and our own universities are educating them today. That is a job creator, because innovation creates momentum in the economy. That skills gap we have today is slowing down economic growth in the United States.” Kullman’s...