Working Paper: NBER ID: w27730
Authors: Anna Maria Mayda; Francesc Ortega; Giovanni Peri; Kevin Y. Shih; Chad Sparber
Abstract: The United States' H-1B visa program, which allows private firms to hire highly skilled foreign workers, was so severely over-subscribed in the years since 2014 that H-1B status was distributed by lotteries to a subset of applicants. Using data on H-1B applications and on a range of outcomes for publicly traded companies, we find that employers using the H-1B program experienced reduced employment, sales and profits, compared to non-users in the years since 2014. We also find that some employers anticipated the rationing of H-1Bs and retained a larger share of H-1B workers, mitigating the damaging effects of H-1B rationing on their performance.
Keywords: H1B visas; firm performance; labor market; immigration policy
JEL Codes: F22; J61
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| H1B visa rationing (D45) | total employment (J23) |
| H1B visa rationing (D45) | sales (M31) |
| H1B visa rationing (D45) | profits (L21) |
| H1B visa rationing (D45) | market value (D46) |
| H1B visa rationing (D45) | R&D expenditures (O32) |
| H1B usage (J68) | greater declines in performance metrics (P27) |
| anticipatory excess hiring (J23) | cushion impact of rationing (D45) |