A long-term trend of higher wages is what, in a market economy, we would expect to confirm a shortage of workers with adequate skills for an occupation. Perhaps a shortage of computer engineers is a more recent phenomenon, not yet reflected in long-term wage trends. But if this is the case, the shortage cannot provide evidence of schools' shortcomings. And importing cheaper foreign labor could be counterproductive. As a result, the shortage will only be prolonged.
Labor markets are much more flexible than schools.
If the demand for workers with particular skills suddenly grows, and schools adjust their vocational counseling and course offerings to meet that demand, students qualified to fill the new jobs will not be available until they are able to complete their coursework and graduate several years later. Likewise, if students see a surplus of labor in highly specialized fields, fewer will take the courses to prepare for them. The labor market for young computer technology workers has tightened recently and wages have started to rise again because earlier, students saw wage declines and stopped choosing math and science as college majors. This created the shortage. In 1985, American colleges awarded 42,000 bachelor's degrees in computer science.