Help Wanted: The Role of Foreign Workers in the Innovation Economy

Help Wanted: The Role of Foreign Workers in the Innovation Economy offers evidence that shows foreign-born workers in the Science, Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) fields are complementing – not displacing – their American counterparts. It also shows that the American economy is facing a shortage of STEM talent that foreign-born workers, particularly those who are educated here at graduate and post-graduate levels, can fill.  

Previous research has shown that for every foreign-born student who stays in the U.S., 2.62 jobs on average are created for American workers. This report by the Partnership for a New American Economy, Information Technology Industry Council and U.S. Chamber of Commerce uses data from the U.S. Census and the U.S. Department of Education Integrated Post-Secondary Education Data System (IPEDS) to clarify many outstanding issues for action by the U.S. Congress as well as popular myths on the topic.  

It shows that while STEM fields employ a far higher proportion of foreign workers than non-STEM fields, those fields with high percentages of foreign STEM workers have low unemployment rates for US workers.  

In fact, there is full employment for US STEM workers according to the report and, in many STEM occupations, unemployment is virtually non-existent. Furthermore, foreign-born STEM workers are paid on par with US STEM workers. 

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