U.S. Chamber and ACIP Release Study on Importance of High-Skilled Immigration to American Competitiveness

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Council on International Personnel (ACIP) unveiled a joint study today on the importance of opening America’s doors to highly educated workers who promote innovation and U.S. competitiveness. The report, “Regaining America’s Competitive Advantage: Making Our Immigration System Work,” was commissioned to provide a clear analysis of current high-skilled immigration programs and proposals from the perspective of employers, who are America’s job creators. The analysis examines the employer-based high-skilled immigration system and offers recommendations for fixing existing problems in the system through regulatory and legislative means.

“High skilled workers from foreign countries provide significant benefits to the U.S. economy,” said Randel K. Johnson, senior vice president of Labor, Immigration, and Employee Benefits for the U.S. Chamber. “Closing the door to highly educated individuals who allow U.S. companies to remain successful and competitive will weaken, not strengthen, our country’s economy. The best policy for the United States is one that sides with freedom and innovation, not restriction.”

As the study indicates, U.S. employment-based immigration policies should allow for a market-based cap on H-1B visas and should ease the way for employers to sponsor highly educated professionals for green cards, a process that can currently take years to well over a decade because of backlogs. Allowing top foreign-born talent who graduate from U.S. universities to gain a green card directly will also help U.S. employers retain the world’s leading future innovators.

The Chamber and ACIP support changes that would let business and economic needs determine the composition of an employer’s workforce, not an arbitrary quota, lottery or commission. The American economy will not be lifted out of a recession by shutting top talent out of the U.S. workforce—the key to recovery is creating jobs.

“Highly educated foreign-born professionals have been central to America’s economic and innovation leadership, and they will continue to be,” said Lynn Shotwell, executive director of ACIP. “We must ensure America has the right employment-based immigration policies in place so that U.S. employers have access to the talent they need to keep growing the economy, spurring innovation and creating U.S. jobs.”

A report by the AFL-CIO—Gaming the System—gathered together arguments that have become traditional for those advocating a closed-door policy for America. The joint study examines the AFL-CIO report, explains where its portrait of highly educated and foreign nationals is incomplete or inaccurate, while also addressing which immigration policies are more likely to create jobs and innovation in the United States.

“If the immigration policies recommended by the AFL-CIO had been in effect since 1990, few if any high skilled foreign nationals would have been allowed to work in the United States,” the study states. “The innovations, complementary jobs, and companies created by such individuals would have been lost – or created in other countries.”

A copy of the full analysis is available at: http://library.uschamber.com/reports/regaining-americas-competitive-advantage-making-our-immigration-system-work

The American Council on International Personnel (ACIP) represents employers working to speed U.S. economic recovery, create new jobs for all Americans and advance American innovation. Our members are companies, universities, research institutions and organizations that employ the critical talent that has and will continue to build the U.S. economy and raise the standard of living for all Americans. We build the workforces necessary to keep America on the cutting edge of worldwide innovation and leading the global economy. Learn more at www.acip.com.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world’s largest business federation representing the interests of more than 3 million businesses of all sizes, sectors, and regions, as well as state and local chambers and industry associations.

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