Econintersect: The last week in July, Brad Smith, Microsoft’s general counsel, urged lawmakers to ease restrictions and immigration laws for skilled overseas workers. Smith addressed the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees, and Border Security. This comes as U.S. universities are graduating fewer computer science majors. Smith was quoted by Information Week as saying there were 58% more computer related bachelor's degrees in 2004 than in 2008. Another problem, according to Smith, is that about 1/3 of the technology graduates from U.S. universities are foreigners who return home after graduation. more »