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LinkedIn Study: US Attracting Fewer Educated, Highly Skilled Migrants

vinces99 writes The U.S. economy has long been powered in part by the nation's ability to attract the world's most educated and skilled people to its shores. But a new study of the worldwide migration of professionals to the U.S. shows a sharp drop-off in its proportional share of those workers – raising the question of whether the nation will remain competitive in attracting top talent in an increasingly globalized economy. The study, which used a novel method of tracking people through data from the social media site LinkedIn, is believed to be the first to monitor global migrations of professionals to the U.S., said co-author Emilio Zagheni, a University of Washington assistant professor of sociology and fellow of the UW eScience Institute. Among other things, the study, presented recently in Barcelona, Spain, found that just 13 percent of migrating professionals in the sample group chose the U.S. as a destination in 2012, down from 27 percent in 2000.

5 of 338 comments (clear)

  1. Solid research there by NotDrWho · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The study, which used a novel method of tracking people through data from the social media site LinkedIn

    found that just 13 percent of migrating professionals in the sample group chose the U.S. as a destination in 2012, down from 27 percent in 2000.

    Pretty impressive finding results from LinkedIn back in 2000, considering it didn't launch until 2003.

    --
    SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
  2. Re:America's loss is Africa's gain by wierd_w · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yes. There are many established players setting up shop in Africa.
    Gaborone, a major african city, has complexes for many tech and industrial giants.

    Check out the wikipedia article.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G...

    I would expect quite a bit to come from there in the coming decades.

  3. And cheaper, right? by khasim · · Score: 3, Insightful

    In my experience (as a dev team lead and interviewer) foreign workers are generally more educated, more productive and more willing to got the extra mile than the local self-entitled bunch.

    Well, unless you secretly work for Google or some such, this is not about you. They're the ones who can afford to attract the best people from around the world.

    The other people claiming to be in tech usually mean H-1B visa recipients. And the real reasons to hire them are:

    1. They're cheaper than hiring US citizens.

    2. They cannot change jobs as easily as US citizens. No matter how many hours you demand that they work.

    3. They're easier to dispose of. You just send them back home. No need to worry about wrongful termination suits or such.

    If you cannot afford to hire the people with the training necessary then you need to look at your business plan.

    Complaining that the local people who will take the job at the pay you're offering lack the education necessary says more about your pay than about the skills of the local people.

  4. Re: Unsurprising if you think about it by prefec2 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Here is a list of reasons why many Europeans won't come. You are not one of those socialist European countries with a public healthcare system. You have 12 times more people shot per year and per inhabitant then any EU country. There is a lot of racism in the US. Your immigration procedures and your fear of terrorism.
    All in all your image sucks. You are no t the country of the free and brave. You are quite the opposite. There is also a lot if violence in your country. All causes not to come. And for EU citizens the lack of a welfare state shocks us even more than the high rate of gun possessions.

  5. Re:Well of course by Sri+Ramkrishna · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I await when CEO jobs can also be outsourced 'elsewhere' since I'm sure they can be paid a lot less for their leadership skills than they can in the U.S. Funny, outsourcing is only for the lower ranks but not in higher management. Are you saying that someone from these other countries can't do as good a job as a U.S. corporate management team?