| Important Facts about Skilled Immigration |
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Skilled workers are a small minority of U.S. legal immigrants. Of the 940,000 legal immigrants in 2004, only 16% were skilled employment-based immigrants. About 40% of these skilled immigrants had advanced degrees, or 5 or more years of experience after a baccalaureate degree.
The highly skilled immigrants are future Americans and they are directly related to American Competitiveness. The impact of these workers’ contributions to American competitiveness belies their small number. They add to the process of scientific discovery, technology development, and innovation, which in turn leads to greater productivity growth. Greater productivity growth improves the standard of living for the U.S. population as a whole. Skilled immigrants not only contribute to the innovation process themselves, they also help train our own future innovators, thus ensuring the competitiveness of future generations. |