HIGH-SKILLED IMMIGRANTS IN NEW MEXICO
Date: April 30, 2015
Learn more about the need for high-skilled immigration reform at www.LetPJStay.com
NEW MEXICO FACES A LARGE STEM SHORTAGE
- There are more STEM job openings than unemployed STEM workers: From 2009 to 2011, 2.1 STEM job openings were posted online in New Mexico for every 1 unemployed STEM worker in the state.
- As STEM fields grow, this problem will likely get worse: New Mexico will need to fill 45,320 new STEM jobs by 2020.
- The healthcare industry in particular will be affected by a shortfall of STEM workers: Researchers estimate New Mexico will be short 12,884 registered nurses by 2030.
- New Mexico’s healthcare industry fairs poorly when compared to other states: New Mexico ranks 31st in the United States when it comes to the number of doctors per capita.
IMMIGRANTS ARE FILLING STEM SHORTAGES IN NEW MEXICO
- Immigrants are more likely to study STEM than the native-born: Immigrants are 10.2 percent of New Mexico’s population, but in 2009, close to half the students earning master’s or PhD degrees in STEM from New Mexico’s research-intensive universities were foreign-born.
- Immigrants are a growing percentage of the STEM workforce: In 2010, more than one in six STEM workers with an advanced degree in New Mexico were foreign-born – more than double their share of the STEM workforce 10 years earlier.
- Immigrants play a critical role in the healthcare industry: In 2012, 17.8 percent of physicians in New Mexico had graduated from a foreign medical school, a population that is overwhelmingly immigrant.
HIGH-SKILLED IMMIGRATION REFORM WOULD HELP NEW MEXICO’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 New Mexico between 2010 and 2013 will translate into 1,128 new jobs for U.S.-born workers in the state by 2020.
