Mar 2, 2009

BusinessWeek Discusses AnnaLee Saxenian's Immigration Research

From BusinessWeek

Why Skilled Immigrants Are Leaving the U.S.: New research shows that highly skilled workers are returning home for brighter career prospects and a better quality of life

By Vivek Wadhwa

As the debate over H-1B workers and skilled immigrants intensifies, we are losing sight of one important fact: The U.S. is no longer the only land of opportunity. If we don't want the immigrants who have fueled our innovation and economic growth, they now have options elsewhere. Immigrants are returning home in greater numbers. And new research shows they are returning to enjoy a better quality of life, better career prospects, and the comfort of being close to family and friends....

We tried to find hard data on how many immigrants had returned to India and China. No government authority seems to track these numbers. But human resources directors in India and China told us that what was a trickle of returnees a decade ago had become a flood. Job applications from the U.S. had increased tenfold over the last few years, they said. To get an understanding of how the returnees had fared and why they left the U.S., my team at Duke, along with AnnaLee Saxenian of the University of California at Berkeley and Richard Freeman of Harvard University, conducted a survey. Through professional networking site LinkedIn, we tracked down 1,203 Indian and Chinese immigrants who had worked or received education in the U.S. and had returned to their home countries. This research was funded by the Kauffman Foundation.

Read more...

More information: Read the article, "America's Loss is the World's Gain: America's New Immigrant Entrepreneurs"

Last updated: October 4, 2016