The Contribution of High-Skilled Immigrants to Innovation in the United States

Immigration can serve as a powerful force in stimulating economic innovation, as shown in a 2022 working paper by the National Bureau of Economic Research, entitled The Contribution of High-Skilled Immigrants to Innovation in the United States. By comparing U.S. patent records with a database containing 230 million Social Security Numbers (SSNs), the researchers were able to identify immigrants based on the age they acquired their SSN. The researchers found that immigrants, while encompassing only 16 percent of all US inventors, accounted for 23 percent of innovation output as measured by number of patents, patent citations, and the economic value of the patents. Immigrant inventors are also more likely to rely on foreign technologies, to collaborate with foreign inventors, and to be cited in foreign markets, thus contributing to the importation and diffusion of ideas across borders. The paper also highlights the influence of immigrant inventors on their native peers. The paper’s findings indicate that, on the whole, immigrants were responsible for 36% of total innovation when considering both their individual and collaborative efforts. (The Immigrant Learning Center’s Public Education Institute)

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