Working Paper: NBER ID: w25875
Authors: William R. Kerr
Abstract: Talent is the most precious resource for today’s knowledge-based economy, and a significant share of the U.S. skilled workforce in technology fields is foreign born. The United States has long held a leading position in attracting global talent, but the gap to other countries is weakening. Immigration policies like the H-1B visa program shape the admissions of foreign workers to the country and grant a particularly strong gatekeeping role to sponsoring firms and universities. This chapter explores the data around global talent flows and some of the economic implications of an employer-driven immigration approach.
Keywords: high-skilled immigration; H1B visa; global talent; innovation; STEM occupations
JEL Codes: F22; F23; J24; O31; O33
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| high-skilled immigration (J61) | U.S. economy (O51) |
| high-skilled immigration (J61) | concentration of talent in STEM fields (D29) |
| H1B visa program (J68) | increased employment opportunities for native workers (J68) |
| winning H1B visa lottery (K37) | salary increase (J31) |
| high-skilled immigration (J61) | displacement of older native workers (J63) |
| high-skilled immigration (J61) | employment opportunities for skilled natives (J68) |