HIGH-SKILLED IMMIGRANTS IN TEXAS

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

TEXAS FACES A LARGE STEM SHORTAGE

• There are more STEM job openings than unemployed STEM workers: From 2009 to 2011, 2.5 STEM job openings were posted online in Texas for every 1 unemployed STEM worker in the state.
• As STEM fields grow, this problem will likely get worse: Texas will need to fill 660,310 new STEM jobs by 2020.
• The healthcare industry in particular will be affected by a shortfall of STEM workers: Researchers estimate Texas will be short 109,779 registered nurses by 2030.
• Texas’ healthcare industry fairs poorly when compared to other states: Texas ranks 42^nd in the United States when it comes to the number of doctors per capita. 

IMMIGRANTS ARE FILLING STEM SHORTAGES IN TEXAS

• Immigrants are over-represented in the STEM workforce: Immigrants are 16.5 percent of Texas’ population, but in 2010, almost one out of every four STEM workers with an advanced degree in Texas were foreign-born.
• Immigrants play a critical role in the healthcare industry: In 2012, 24.4 percent of physicians in Texas had graduated from a foreign medical school, a population that is overwhelmingly immigrant.

IMMIGRANTS INCREASINGLY POWER TEXAS’ INNOVATION ECONOMY

• Immigrants are more likely to study STEM than the native-born: In 2009, 55.6 percent of the students earning master’s or PhD degrees in STEM fields from Texas’ research-intensive universities were foreign-born.
• Immigrants are inventing the products that will drive innovation over the coming decades: In 2011, more than 73 percent of patents awarded to the University of Texas system had at least one foreign-born inventor, and 46 percent had at least one foreign-born student, postdoctoral fellow, or researcher, groups with no clear path to stay in the United States after graduation. In FY 2010, the university earned $38.3 million in patent licensure revenue. 

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

• High-skilled visa holders create jobs for U.S.-born workers: The new H-1B visas awarded to Texas between 2010 and 2013 will translate into 80,500 new jobs for U.S.-born workers in the state by 2020.
• Our visa system is costing jobs and revenue: Firm-level data from the 2007 and 2008 H-1B lotteries shows that the H-1B caps from those two years alone cost U.S.-born tech workers in the Dallas and Houston metropolitan areas as many as 14,582 additional jobs and as much as $153.3 million in aggregate annual earnings by 2010.