OnPoint Highlights: U.S. Economy Still Needs Highly Skilled Foreign Workers

July 1, 2008

Read the full press release in pdf.

Although the recent downturn of the U.S. economy has caused unemployment to rise in some industries, like construction, it has done little to dampen the perennially strong demand for skilled workers in high-tech companies, universities, and research institutes. Yet policymakers continue to impose an arbitrary numerical cap of 65,000 per year on how many new H-1B visas can be granted to highly skilled workers from other countries, plus another 20,000 per year for foreign graduates of advanced degree programs at U.S. universities. For years, this cap has not come close to meeting demand.