Silicon Valley has jobs advice for Washington

With the debt ceiling standoff resolved (sort of), Silicon Valley's technorati gathered in Palo Alto (CA) to dole out advice on Washington's next gargantuan problem, job creation.

Tech heavyweights like Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, venture capitalist John Doerr and Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix -- all members of President Barack Obama's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness -- emphasized the importance of immigration reform and better education in generating jobs and innovation. The Council was formed about six months ago to provide non-partisan advice to the President on how the government can "best foster growth, competitiveness, innovation, and job creation." It is schedule to meet with him in the fall to deliver policy recommendations. "We have to focus on our education system," said Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg. "We're falling behind in every way possible." Sandberg talked about what can be done to get more women in particular into high-tech jobs, such as giving girls more time with computers from an early age. "Let your daughters play video games," she told an audience comprised of educators, entrepreneurs and investors. Sandberg also talked about the role Facebook's ecosystem of developers has played in job creation. While Facebook employs about 2,600 employees, she noted that there are 2.5 million developers globally creating applications for the social network. She added that Facebook has also given rise to entire new industries, like social media consulting.

On immigration reform, the panel urged the government not only to make it easier for high-skilled workers to stay in the United States, but also to provide incentives for more professionals to enter the U.S. market.