Immigrants have been playing a crucial role in our society by contributing to more United States innovation advancements compared to United States born counterparts. According to a recent economic research study, immigrants outperform American citizens born in the country in terms of economic and technological developments, accounting for around 36% of innovation in the country.
By connecting patent data to more than 200 million Social Security numbers, a team of economists were able to calculate the contribution of immigrant workers to innovation in the United States for the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) in a ground-breaking new study. These researchers used birth dates to differentiate between inventors born in the United States and those born abroad in order to identify which patents belonged to immigrants. Between 1990 and 2016, immigrants received more than 25% of all patents granted. These patents had a higher financial worth than those of native-born inventors and were also more likely to be referenced in their areas.
As immigrant inventors are more likely to depend on foreign technology, to work with foreign inventors, and to be acknowledged in international marketplaces, the research further reveals that immigrants are crucial to the cross-border transmission of innovative ideas. High-skilled immigrants help progress vital U.S. businesses and now, immigrants make up 16% of the healthcare sector and 25% of the STEM sector in this nation. Overall, the study’s findings indicate that highly talented immigrants benefit their American counterparts by advancing innovations and boosting production through the information and novel viewpoints they bring from their native nations.
