The Search for Skills: Demand for H-1B Immigrant Workers in U.S. Metropolitan Areas
This timely analysis of the geography of H-1B visa requests reveals that demand for H-1B workers has fluctuated with economic and political cycles over the last decade and reflects a wide range of employers’ needs for high-skilled temporary workers.
It finds that metropolitan areas vary by the number of employers using the H-1B program and the cap status of the employers. Demand in corporate metro areas (such as Columbus, IN, and Seattle, WA) comes predominantly from private employers subject to the annual visa cap, while in research metro areas (such as Durham, NC and Ann Arbor, MI), the demand is driven by universities and other research institutions exempt from the cap.
In 92 of the 106 high demand metropolitan areas, STEM occupations accounted for more than half of all requests. However, H-1B visa fees designated for skills training and STEM education have not been proportionately distributed to metro areas requesting the highest number of H-1B workers.
Ruiz, N. G., Wilson, J. H., Choudhury, S. (2012). The Search for Skills: Demand for H-1B Immigrant Workers in U.S. Metropolitan Areas. Metropolitan Policy Program at The Brookings Institution: Washington, D.C. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-search-for-skills-demand-for-h-1b-immigrant-workers-in-u-s-metropolitan-areas/