Introduction: US High-Skilled Immigration in the Global Economy

Abstract

Immigrants account for approximately a quarter of US science and engineering ðS&EÞworkers with bachelor’s educations, and yet there have been at most a few dozen detailed academic studies that examine the link of immigration and innovation in the United States. High-skilled immigrants represent an increasing share of the US workforce, particularly in science and engineering S&E fields. Foreign-born individuals account for nearly 28% of doctorate-level workers in the United States and more than 45% of those with PhDs employed in S&E fields. The potential impact of high-skilled immigration on the US economy extends well beyond traditional questions of the impact on wages and employment for the immigrants and natives. The expansion of the pool of high-skilled workers is often accompanied by innovations as measured by patents and other forms of scientific output, which suggests the potential for high-skilled immigration to contribute to net human capital externalities. Indeed, foreign-born scientists account for a disproportionate number of major scientific contributions ðStephan and Levin 2001Þ and about a quarter of US innovative outputs ðKerr 2013Þ. Still, the limited evidence regarding the economic and distributional consequences of highskilled immigration has become all the more apparent and worrisome given the policy focus on the issue. While the study of immigration and immigration policy has a long history, a disproportionate share of the research has focused on lower-skilled groups. There is also an established line of economics research on high-skilled labor markets motivated by the importance of scientific innovation for