Innovation and STEM Fields
For America to compete in the 21st century, we need a robust innovation economy—which requires a workforce skilled in the science, technology, engineering, and math (or STEM) fields. Yet American students are not entering those industries in sufficient numbers, and the United States is projected to face a shortage of one million STEM workers by 2022.1 Foreign-born students frequently gravitate towards STEM disciplines, making up roughly one out of every three individuals earning graduate-level STEM degrees each year. Our broken visa system, however, makes it difficult for many of them to stay after graduation—a reality that hurts the ability of our employers to expand and create more opportunity for American workers. 1 President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, "Engage to Excel: Producing 1 million Additional College Graduates with Degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics," February 2012. Available online.
German Immigrant Invents Cutting Edge Genetic Technology – and Still Faces U.S. Immigration Issues
Jonas Korlach, a United States-based biochemist, says that as a young man, he never would’ve predicted the path his life would take in adulthood. Growing up in East Germany, he was just 16 years old when the Berlin Wall fell, opening up a whole new universe just 15 minutes from… Read More
Statement on U.S. Government Exhausting Supply of H-1B Visas in Less Than a Week
CONTACT Ryan Williams, Partnership for a New American Economy, [email protected] Following the announcement by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that they reached the congressionally mandated H-1B cap for 2016, Partnership for a New American Economy Chairman John Feinblatt issued the following statement:… Read More
U.S. Companies Say H-1B Hires Are “Critical” to Success
CHICAGO, IL–(Marketwired – Apr 7, 2015) – Nothing highlights the skills gap more than the race to submit H-1B visa applications. In a survey of nearly 100 U.S. companies that seek skilled workers and collectively employ more than 116,000, 50 percent of the companies consider hiring foreign nationals for U.S. Read More
Conservatives should champion immigration reform
Florida has long been a gateway for new residents entering our nation. By 2010, one in five Florida residents was born outside the United States. The dynamics of registered voters have shifted to reflect the influx of immigrants who have moved here in the last decade. The Partnership for a… Read More
Immigration ceiling hit in one week
The U.S. government will begin doling out high-skilled worker visas through a lottery system after applications exceeded the cap a week after the enrollment period began. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said Tuesday that the 65,000 cap on new applications for skilled visas had already been hit for the… Read More
America Has a Foreign Worker Problem
Each year, the first week of April is a stressful one for thousands of would-be employees in America. Often, these workers have graduated from top-tier colleges and had the chops to get noticed by businesses all across the United States. They accepted job offers and made plans to start their… Read More
HIGH-SKILLED IMMIGRANTS IN ARIZONA
Learn more about the need for high-skilled immigration reform at www.LetPJStay.com ARIZONA FACES A LARGE STEM SHORTAGE There are more STEM job openings than unemployed STEM workers: From 2009 to 2011, 1.7 STEM job openings were posted online in Arizona for every 1 unemployed STEM worker in the… Read More
Cyprus Native Develops Groundbreaking Glass Technology at U.S. School
Marios Demetriou, a senior research associate at Caltech, is one of the school’s major recent successes. Demetriou, a Greek from Cyprus, originally came to the United States in the 1990s as an undergraduate to study mechanical engineering at the University of Arizona. Almost immediately, he says he felt his attitude… Read More
Physics PhD from Sri Lanka Makes Major Contributions to Illinois Tech Community
Dr. Siva Sivananthan has a story that exemplifies two important trends in Illinois – the crucial roles both immigrant scientists and entrepreneurs play in the state. Dr. Siva, as he is known, came to the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) from his home in Sri Lanka to pursue a… Read More
Business advocates lobby Congress for more guest workers, high-tech visas
With the push for a broad immigration bill now dead in Congress, business advocates are ramping up their calls for Republicans who run both chambers to at least consider updating the nation’s guest-worker programs to help boost the economy. From overhauling the visa that allows in farmworkers to boosting the… Read More
Outsize Role in the Workforce
Immigrants punch above their weight class in the STEM fields, making up far larger portions of the STEM workforce than they do the U.S. population overall. This dynamic is particularly pronounced in several states. In New Jersey, for instance, immigrants make up almost two out of every five STEM workers, while accounting for only one in five of the state’s residents.
States with the Highest Share of Foreign-Born STEM Workers, 2014
Labor Shortages
In recent years, many U.S. employers have struggled to find enough STEM workers. This lack of manpower has real consequences for the economy—making it difficult for firms to expand and create jobs for American workers at all skill levels. In several specialized fields, like physical science and software development, the unemployment rates of U.S.-born STEM workers are particularly low, indicating there are simply not enough U.S.-born workers to meet the needs of employers.
Take a look at our latest research about the shortage of STEM workers.
U.S. Citizen Unemployment Rates in STEM Fields Most Heavily Reliant on Immigrant STEM Workers, 2014
Earning STEM Degrees
International students make up a large share of STEM graduate students. In 2014, more than a quarter of STEM master’s degrees and more than a third of STEM Ph.D. degrees went to students in the country on temporary visas. Meanwhile, the number of American citizen and permanent resident students pursuing graduate degrees in science and engineering fields actually fell by 6.3 percent between 2010 and 2013.2 Our broken immigration system means that many of these international students will struggle to remain in the country after graduation, despite employers needing them.
Sources:
2 National Science Foundation, Science and Engineering Indicators, 2016, Appendix Table 2-25. Available online.
Share of Ph.D.'s in Selected Fields Going to Students on Temporary Visas, 2014
States Graduating the Most STEM Students on Temporary Visas, 2014
States Needing STEM Workers
While every state was short STEM workers in 2015, the shortage was particularly acute in North Dakota and South Dakota, where employers listed 87 and 71 STEM positions, respectively, for each unemployed STEM worker. These are gaps that immigrants could help fill. In South Dakota, for instance, immigrants made up just three percent of all STEM workers in 2015, one of the lowest shares in the country.
States with Greatest Shortages of STEM Workers, 2014
Creating U.S. Jobs
Rather than reduce the number of jobs available to American workers, foreign-born STEM graduates often create additional jobs for U.S.-born workers. Research shows that when a state gains 100 foreign-born STEM workers with graduate-level training from a U.S. school, an average of 262 jobs are created for U.S.-born workers there in the seven years that follow.3 More specifically, the temporary visa (H-1B) program for high-skilled workers is also linked to job creation for American workers and economic growth. However, the current system fails not only to provide visas that companies need to grow, but also to protect against fraud and abuse.
Sources:
3 Madeline Zavodny, “Immigration and American Jobs,” The Partnership for a New American Economy and the American Enterprise Institute, 2011. Available online.
States that Stand to Gain the Most from Retaining More Foreign-Born STEM Graduates
The Impact of our Broken Immigration System
Since the recession, some of the most robust growth in high-wage, American jobs has occurred in cities. The high-tech companies fueling this growth cannot succeed and grow, however, without qualified STEM professionals—a group that can be difficult to find. An annual cap on the number of available green cards and H-1B visas hinders efforts to hire immigrant STEM professionals when no American workers are available. At right, we explore how the H-1B requests for computer-related workers that did not make it through the 2007 and 2008 H-1B visa lotteries impacted wages and the number of jobs available for U.S.-born tech workers in the two years that followed.4
Sources:
4 Partnership for a New American Economy, “Closing Economic Windows: How H-1B Visa Denials Cost U.S.-Born Tech Workers Jobs and Wages During the Great Recession," June 4, 2014. Available online.
Metropolitan Areas Hurt Most by 2007 and 2008 Denials in the H-1B Lottery
Driving Innovation
International STEM students and graduates are behind some of America’s most impressive innovations, from artificial skin to moldable metal. Studies show that immigrants with an advanced degree are three times more likely than U.S.-born graduate degree holders to file a patent. When universities increase their share of international students, they often receive more patents—boosting revenue and creating more opportunities for all students.
Share of Patents Awarded to Top Patent Producing Research Universities with at Least One Foreign-Born Inventor, 2011
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