Immigration Law

NSF STUDY: FOREIGN SKILLED WORKERS VITAL TO US REMAINING COMPETITIVE

By Greg Siskind

The National Science Foundation, a US government agency, has released its "Science and Engineering Indicators 2008" report and the NSF has issued a pretty strong warning regarding protectionism in the IT labor market:

The globalization of the S&E [SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING] labor force continues to
increase as the location of S&E employment becomes more
internationally diverse and S&E workers become more internationally
mobile. These trends reinforce each other as R&D
spending and business investment cross national borders in
search of available talent, as talented people cross borders in
search of interesting and lucrative work, and as employers
recruit and move employees internationally. Although these
trends appear most strong in the high-profile international
competition for IT workers, they affect every S&T area.

The rate of growth of the S&E labor force may decline
rapidly over the next decade because of the aging of individuals
with S&E educations, as the number of individuals
with S&E degrees reaching traditional retirement ages is expected
to triple. If this slowdown occurs, the rapid growth in
R&D employment and spending that the United States has
experienced since World War II may not be sustainable.

The growth rate of the S&E labor force would also be
significantly reduced if the United States becomes less successful
in the increasing international competition for immigrant
and temporary nonimmigrant scientists and engineers.
Many countries are actively reducing barriers to high-skilled
immigrants entering their labor markets at the same time that
entry into the United States is becoming somewhat more difficult.
Despite this, many recent statistics suggest that the
United States is still an attractive destination for many foreign
scientists and engineers.

Slowing of the S&E labor force growth would be a fundamental
change for the U.S. economy, possibly affecting
both technological change and economic growth. Some researchers
have raised concerns that other factors may even
accentuate the trend (NSB 2003). Any sustained drop in
S&E degree production would produce not only a slowing
of labor-force growth, but also a long-term decline in the
S&E labor force.

The report had a lot of interesting statistical data on the H-1B program and also compared our numbers to other countries. Surprisingly, we get proportionately fewer highly skilled immigrants than many other countries. Japan, for example, has a reputation for being very insular, but has a lot more skilled immigrants entering than I thought:

In 2003, 268,045 workers entered Japan in high-skilled
temporary visa categories, a 93% increase compared with
1992 (figure 3-57). For comparison purposes, this equals
half of the number of Japanese university graduates entering
the labor force each year and is more than the number
entering the United States in roughly similar categories
(H-1B, L-1, TN, O-1, O-2) (Fuess 2001).

The report tells us something most of us already know - that H-1Bs are super-smart:

In FY 2006, 57% of new H-1B visa
recipients had advanced degrees, including 41% with master?s
degrees, 5% with professional degree, and 11% with
doctorates. This degree distribution differs by occupation,
with 87% holding advanced degrees in math and physical
sciences occupations (47% with doctorates) and 89% in life
science occupations (61% with doctorates).
 
For those with advanced degrees, it may be possible to
infer the proportion without prior U.S. education by examining
the number seeking to be counted against the larger
quota for those with advanced degrees from U.S. schools. In
FY 2006, 59% of doctorate holders, 21% of professional degree
holders, and 52% of master?s degree holders indicated
on their H-1B applications that their degree was from a U.S.
school. This both documents the use of the H-1B visa as a
way for graduates of U.S. schools to continue their careers in
the United States, and the importance of the H-1B in bringing
the foreign educated to the United States.

Finally, I knew India deserves a lot of credit for helping the US maintain its competitive edge,but the data really supports this:

H1-B visa recipients have a diverse set of citizenships, with
a large representation of Indian citizens overall and Chinese citizens
among those holding doctorates (figures 3-63 and 3-64). Across all recipients
of new H-1B visas in FY 2006, 54% were Indian citizens,
followed by 9% for China, and 3% each for Canada,17 South
Korea, and the Philippines. Among the 12,500 doctorate
holders receiving new H-1B visas, 32% were Chinese citizens,
followed by 13% for India, 7% for South Korea, 5% for
Canada, and 3% each for Germany, the United Kingdom, and
Japan. Most doctorate holders coming from countries with
large university systems had low rates of claiming a U.S.
degree, for example, the United Kingdom (21%), Germany
(28%), Canada (29%), France (30%), and Japan (31%). In
contrast, 71% of doctorate holders from China and 59% of
doctorate holders from India claimed advanced U.S. degrees
on their visa applications.

Full post as published by Greg Siskind's Blog on February 18, 2008 (boomark / email).