Interesting series of articles from Business Week.
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/may2009/db2009058_701427.htm
As of May 1, 2009, approximately 45,000 H-1B cap-subject petitions and approximately 20,000 petitions qualifying for the advanced degree cap exemption had been filed. USCIS will continue to accept both cap-subject petitions and advanced degree petitions until a sufficient number of H-1B petitions have been received to reach the statutory limits, taking into account the fact that some of these petitions may be denied, revoked, or withdrawn.
The Department of Labor is launching a new Labor Certification and PERM certification system called iCert.
iCert will replace the legacy PERM and Foreign Labor Certification systems previously used. The best feature for practitioners is the combination of both PERM and the ETA 9035E (LCA) used for the H-1B, H1B1 and E-3 visa categories. However, the new iCert program also carries with it delays in processing of the H-1B LCA. The new LCAs will all be reviewed before certification which could mean delays from 30 days to 2 weeks.