Study Finds Immigrants Are More Innovative Than Native US Citizens
A recent study found that immigrants contributed to approximately 16% of all US innovations between the years of 1990 and 2016, it also found that immigrants filed 25% more patents than their native US counterparts.
It is well-known that skilled immigrant workers and educators bring a vast amount of business and innovation to our shores. If you look at the most brilliant inventors that changed the landscape of our country, a high percentage are immigrants or children of immigrants.
Sergey Brin, Elon Musk, and Nikola Tesla were all immigrants who moved to America for opportunities. This move led to the incredible technology and innovation we use daily. It shows how vital immigrants are to technological progress. In science, technology, and engineering fields, 25% of students and employees are immigrants.
In a recent study, a group of researchers try to decipher how much immigrants actually contribute to research and innovation. They linked patents to social security numbers. By searching for the year the social security number was issued, they could determine which study was completed by someone with an immigrant background. Inventors from an immigrant background made up 16% of innovations that took place over twenty-six years, between 1990 and 2016.
Another exciting finding within their research is that immigrant inventors produce more work than American-born inventors. Immigrant inventors created over 25% of all patents within this timeframe, most of which was respected research and financially viable. They also found that they collaborate and motivate American inventors, which makes for a more productive environment all round.
Overall, immigrants are involved in some capacity in over 36% of all inventions completed nationwide. So why are immigrants more productive compared to American-born inventors?
There are various theories as to why this is. These specific innovators may have motivation and ruthlessness to leave their country, which is why they moved to America, that other people do not possess. Maybe they appreciate the opportunities available to them when they arrive here compared to someone born into them. They tend to move to areas of America will more employment and educational opportunities, which is why they are so effective.
Immigrants have the highest number of co-workers within their work, and they are essential in compiling foreign information and transporting it to America. They create a pool of new knowledge and technology that otherwise would not be here.
Many of these immigrants, that are so important to the country’s economy, are on H1-B visas. This visa allows them to work and stay in America as long as they have a job. Potentially, this visa could lead to the holder becoming a legal resident. But with the recent economic instability, thousands of people with this visa are unemployed. So either they have to find a job in sixty days or leave America and take their incredible intelligence with them. With mass amounts of lay-offs and hiring freezes, this is making finding a new job next to impossible.
The economic crisis and America’s visa system are creating the perfect storm jeopardizing America’s ability to grow and explore new inventions and technologies through immigrant inventors. Currently, the amount of educated immigrant workers has slowed down, and rather than enticing them to come to America, they are pushing them to seek different opportunities. Those who immigrate to the US add so much to the American economy is would be a disaster to lose such intelligence to another country.
