HIGH-SKILLED IMMIGRANTS IN MINNESOTA

Learn more about the need for high-skilled immigration reform at www.LetPJStay.com

MINNESOTA FACES A LARGE STEM SHORTAGE

• There are more STEM job openings than unemployed STEM workers: From 2009 to 2011, 2.4 STEM job openings were posted online in Minnesota for every 1 unemployed STEM worker in the state.
• As STEM fields grow, this problem will likely get worse: Minnesota will need to fill 154,920 new STEM jobs by 2020.
• The healthcare industry in particular will be affected by a shortfall of STEM workers: The federal government estimates Minnesota will be short 8,096 registered nurses (RN) by 2020, leaving 14.6 percent of the state’s RN positions unfilled.

IMMIGRANTS ARE FILLING STEM SHORTAGES IN MINNESOTA

• Immigrants are more likely to study STEM than the native-born: Immigrants are 7.4 percent of Minnesota’s population, but in 2009, about 40 percent of the students earning master’s or PhD degrees in STEM fields from Minnesota’s research-intensive universities were foreign-born.
• Immigrants are a growing percentage of the STEM workforce: In 2010, more than 17 percent of STEM workers with an advanced degree in Minnesota were foreign-born – almost double their share of the STEM workforce 10 years earlier.
• Immigrants play a critical role in the healthcare industry: In 2012, 15.8 percent of physicians in Minnesota had graduated from a foreign medical school, a population that is overwhelmingly immigrant.

HIGH-SKILLED IMMIGRATION REFORM WOULD HELP MINNESOTA’S COMPANIES COMPETE AND CREATE AMERICAN JOBS

• High-skilled visa holders create jobs for U.S.-born workers: The new H-1B visas awarded to Minnesota between 2010 and 2013 will translate into 6,055 new jobs for U.S.-born workers in the state by 2020.