Slashdot Mirror


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.

7 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. It's obvious by surfdaddy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It has been obvious for some time that the US is on the decline. As a worker in the late stages of my career, I find that saddening but I don't know what we can do about it. In the 60's it was all about technology and progress and science. Kennedy made a speech where he asked where the US would get all the Engineers that would be needed for the future. Nowadays it is all about financial instruments and inventing ways to manipulate the numbers to look like you have more money than you do. And it is also about rejecting science when it doesn't agree with your religious leanings (sort of sounds like some other religions in other parts of the world, doesn't it?). I don't personally see the will in this country to continue the leadership into the future. It will probably take a generation or two, but then we will be another Spain or UK which was once a dominant world power. Let's just hope that the next big power is benevolent, or it is likely not to be very pretty.

  5. Perspective by Space+cowboy · · Score: 4, Informative

    I'm one of said H1B visas, now with a green card. Been here almost exactly 10 years now, after Apple bought my company. I came here for the money and the weather, not for anything else. Frankly I don't think the US society is as "free" as people here seem to believe.

    I've mentioned this here before, and (understandably, no-one likes bad news) I tend to get down voted for it, but the simple honest truth of the matter is that the USA isn't geared for looking after people, it's geared towards controlling people. There's things I like about it (the job is great, the weather is excellent, the people (as individuals who I meet day-to-day) are generally wonderful unless driving, the money is still good, I like my house and I met my wife here - my son is dual American/British).

    There's things I don't like too, (the militarisation of the police, the lack of any reasonable healthcare, the "I'm alright Jack, screw you" attitude of a *lot* of people - weirdly enough those who often really *aren't* alright, the schooling system, and for lack of any better term, the country's soul). As time passes, and I get older, these seem to be more important. I can't see myself retiring here, and in fact I can't see myself here in another 10 years. That's not the attitude I came to the US with, it's something I've developed while I've been here.

    Let's be frank here, I'm not trying to boast, but I'm one of the 'have's - I have a million dollar house (which sounds a lot more impressive than it really is in this neighbourhood) which is almost paid off, I have a high six-figure income, and I've money in the bank. I'm not a "1%er" but I'm up there with the rest... however, even with all of this, I'm not happy with the way the country is going. There's little-to-no safety net for joe public, and seemingly (*both* houses Republican, seriously ?) no desire for that. I think the USA is far closer to oligarchy than democracy, and the long-term trend just looks like it gets worse from here on out.

    [sigh]

    Simon.

    --
    Physicists get Hadrons!
  6. 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.

  7. 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?