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Do immigrants take a significantly higher proportion of STEM jobs than in other parts of the economy?

Wednesday, August 5, 2020
By William Boger
NO

Based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics definition of STEM fields, generally including jobs in science, technology, engineering, math, health and social sciences, foreign-born workers comprised about 19% of the sector's workforce when it was last measured, in 2015. In 2019, the BLS reported that immigrants to the U.S. made up about 17% of the country's total workforce.

Data from the Census Bureau excludes health and social science, resulting in a higher estimate for the foreign-born population in the STEM workforce of about 22%. The narrower census definition results in a STEM workforce of 8.1 million workers, about 5% of the total U.S. workforce in 2015. The wider classification including health fields expands the population to 20.4 million, 12.6% of the workforce.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
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