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.
Is Unwelcoming Immigration Law Choking The US Economy?
Mindful Money October 4, 2012 The US may have to make dramatic changes to its unwelcoming immigration system if the country is to hold onto its strong entrepreneurial culture. Research by the Kauffman Foundation argues that the country’s “unwelcoming” immigration system has led to a “reverse brain drain” that… Read More
Why Silicon Valley Is Losing Its Luster
CNN World October 3, 2012 Silicon Valley has been a key driver of U.S. growth in the last two decades. Just look at the rise of Apple, Google, and Facebook, and all the jobs and opportunities and new communities they’ve created. But the “secret sauce” behind this success might… Read More
STEMming the Decline of Foreign-Born Tech Graduates
The Washington Post September 19, 2012 NOT MANY PARTS of the Democratic and Republican party platforms are interchangeable. An exception is the nearly identical passages expressing support for keeping foreign-born students in this country after they earn advanced degrees from U.S. universities in science, technology, engineering and math, the… Read More
Diaspora and development: Immigrants are economically invigorating
Minn Post August 20, 2012 Living in Minnesota, especially the Twin Cities, you might have heard and wondered what the term “diaspora” refers to. It’s defined as “the movement, migration, or scattering of a people away from an established or ancestral homeland.” Globally, 3 percent of the population (about… Read More
Immigration reform key to economic revival
Boston.com August 19, 2012 Michael Bloomberg, the independent mayor of New York City, is no one’s idea of a hardline Republican conservative. Media titan Rupert Murdoch, whose empire includes Fox News and The Wall Street Journal, is no one’s idea of a squishy Republican moderate. And Boston Mayor Thomas… Read More
Murdoch, Bloomberg call for GOP to have courage on immigration
Wicked Local August 16, 2012 News Corp chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg came to Boston Tuesday to hail immigrants’ contributions to our economic vitality. Touting the findings of a report by the Partnership for a New American Economy, the two cited the shortage… Read More
Press Release: New Report Highlights the Significant and Growing Impact of Immigrant Entrepreneurs on New Business Generation and the Creation of American Jobs
Immigrants increasingly likely to start a business – responsible for 28 percent of new U.S. businesses in 2011 – while rate of new business generation among the native-born declines Immigrant businesses collectively generated more than $775 billion in revenue, $100 million in income, and employ… Read More
Demand Soars for Foreign Tech Workers
The Tennessean August 3, 2012 Pietro Valdastri visited Nashville for the first time almost a year ago, not as a tourist but as a new hire. Valdastri joined Vanderbilt University as an assistant professor of mechanical engineering in September. In doing so, he left the university where he taught… Read More
Monterrey Native Spotlighted for UTPA Tech Startup
The Monitor August 3, 2012 The University of Texas-Pan American’s first technology startup company can teach the nation how foreign-born graduates can reinvent the U.S. economy, according to a report from the Partnership for a New American Economy. That organization — whose members include hundreds of mayors and business… Read More
Microsoft Hosts Skilled Immigration Roundtable
The Washington Post August 1, 2012 The sleek conference room at Microsoft’s Washington, D.C., office was packed Wednesday morning with industry and policy leaders. The conversation topic: The skilled worker pipeline in the U.S., particularly the cap on H-1B visas. Talk ranged from policy prescriptions to where the demand… 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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