I have been remiss in not posting about a policy comment in the January 8 edition of Chemical and Engineering News by Susan Butts, Chair, ACS Working Group on Immigration & Work Visas. It's worth a read, if only to see how an ACS committee is grappling with the issue:
...U.S. universities have attracted many foreign students because of the high quality of undergraduate and graduate education these institutions offer. Data from the 2016 National Science Foundation Survey of Earned Doctorates show that over the past two decades, approximately 40% of chemistry doctorates and 52% of chemical engineering doctorates from U.S. universities have been granted to foreign nationals. However, 2013 data from the NSF longitudinal study of these graduates from U.S. universities, the Survey of Doctorate Recipients, estimates that approximately 95% of chemists and chemical engineers who received Ph.D.s from U.S. universities and are employed in the U.S. are either U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents.
Within some science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines, particularly those related to computer science and other fields in the information technology sector, people are concerned that many jobs in the U.S. are being filled by contracting firms that bring in foreign workers on temporary (typically H-1B) visas. On the basis of data available from the U.S. Department of Labor, it appears that relatively few jobs in the occupation categories of chemist, biochemist, and chemical engineer are being filled by H-1B visa workers....
...The ACS working group polled the members of its constituent ACS governance committees at the recent ACS national meeting in Washington, D.C. When asked, “Do you think that immigration of chemists and related scientists and engineers is good for the U.S. chemistry enterprise?” a majority replied, “Yes.” This, however, was a very small sample, and the working group would like to hear from more of our 156,000-plus ACS members. The working group has created a brief survey about immigration and its impact on the chemistry enterprise to which any ACS member can respond. It includes a few specific questions and a field for comments. To find the survey, go to www.acs.org/policyinput and click on the link under Workforce Related Immigration Policy (CJ's note: or click here). Alternatively, members can share their thoughts or questions about workforce-related immigration via an email to policy@acs.org.The difference between the number of international students who get doctorates in chemistry in the United States and the number of employed chemists in the Survey of Doctorate Recipients is interesting. (I note that the Survey of Doctorate Recipients is a sampling of everyone who has a research Ph.D. from an American university who is less than 76 years old, i.e. if there was a more recent inflection point, it would be a bit masked in the SDR numbers.)
I really think your view about immigration will largely depend if you have to compete against directly them for a job. I cannot help but notice that most TT, tenured profs, or administrators in academia, with regard to immigration, are "renaissance men/women" and pro-immigration. I would imagine if they were post-docs and knowing they would have to compete against them for a job, they might feel differently about immigration.
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