HIGH-SKILLED IMMIGRANTS IN WASHINGTON
Date: May 14, 2015
Learn more about the need for high-skilled immigration reform at www.LetPJStay.com
WASHINGTON 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 Washington for every 1 unemployed STEM worker in the state.
- As STEM fields grow, this problem will likely get worse: Washington will need to fill 242,700 new STEM jobs by 2020.
- The healthcare industry in particular will be affected by a shortfall of STEM workers: Researchers estimate Washington will be short 20,609 registered nurses by 2030, and some policy papers have estimated the state could be short as many as 3,000 to 4,000 physicians within the next 10 to 15 years.
IMMIGRANTS ARE FILLING STEM SHORTAGES IN WASHINGTON
- Immigrants are more likely to study STEM than the native-born: Immigrants are 13.4 percent of Washington’s population, but in 2009, 26.1 percent of the students earning master’s or PhD degrees in STEM fields from Washington’s research-intensive universities were foreign-born.
- Immigrants are over-represented in the STEM workforce: In 2010, more than one in five STEM workers with an advanced degree in Washington were foreign-born.
- Immigrants play a critical role in the healthcare industry: In 2012, 13.6 percent of physicians in Washington had graduated from a foreign medical school, a population that is overwhelmingly immigrant.
HIGH-SKILLED IMMIGRATION REFORM WOULD HELP WASHINGTON’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 Washington between 2010 and 2013 will translate into 21,283 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 Seattle metropolitan area as many as 2,183 additional jobs and as much as $32.1 million in aggregate annual earnings by 2010.
