The accelerating decline in America's high-skilled workforce : implications for immigration policy / Jacob Funk Kirkegaard.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kirkegaard, Jacob F.

Series:

Policy analyses in international economics ; 84.

Policy analyses in international economics ; 84

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States--Emigration and immigration--Government policy.

United States.

Emigration and immigration.

Government policy.

Skilled labor--United States.

Skilled labor.

Physical Description:

xi, 132 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Washington, DC : Peterson Institute for International Economics, 2007.

Summary:

America rose to economic prominence on the shoulders of the most highly skilled workforce in the world. However, during the last 30 years, skill levels in the US workforce have stagnated: Americans aged 25-34 today do not possess higher skills than do their baby boomer parents. So when American baby boomers retire, they will take as many skills with them as their children will bring into the US workforce. While their parents may have been "the brightest kids on the global trading block" when they entered the workforce, Americans entering the workforce today barely make the global top 10. America is no longer a skill-abundant country compared with an increasing share of the rest of the world.

As a result, in the coming decade, America could face broad and substantial skill shortages and will increasingly need foreign high-skilled workers. Meanwhile, as America debates the merits of immigration reform, other rich nations have rapidly revamped their high-skilled immigration systems, making the United States one of many destinations for high-skilled immigrants. For America to regain its leadership in global talent, it must urgently reform its high-skilled immigration programs, particularly the H-1B temporary work visa and legal permanent resident (green card) programs. US policymakers should in the face of accelerating global economic integration make high-skilled immigration an essential component of their broader foreign economic policies. The aim must be to ensure a continuous inflow of required high-skilled workers to the United States in a manner that enjoys broad domestic political support.

Contents:

1 High-Skilled Workers: Stagnating in the United States, Rising Fast in Other Countries? 5

Size and Educational Attainment of Resident US Population 6

Size and Educational Characteristics of Foreign-Born Populations in Rich Countries 15

High-Skilled Workers in Science and Engineering 19

Global High-Skilled Talent: An Increasingly Sought After Resource 26

2 Current US High-Skilled Immigration System 33

Permanent High-Skilled Immigration 33

Temporary High-Skilled Immigration 39

3 Welfare Trade-Off, US Software Workers, and Immigration Quotas 55

Welfare Economic Efficiency Versus Equity Trade-Off 55

Software Workers: The Most Affected High-Skilled Americans 58

Matching Employers with Foreign High-Skilled Workers 74

4 A Reform Package 79

Summary of Findings 79

Implications and Recommendations for Reform 82

Statistical Appendix 91.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 121-126) and index.

ISBN:

9780881324136

0881324132

OCLC:

176648858