– The Immigration Act changed natives’ skill investment and utilization in three ways: (1) it pushed black males out of STEM majors; (2) it pushed white male STEM graduates out of STEM occupations; and (3) it pushed white female STEM graduates out of the workforce.
– High-skilled foreigners provide considerable benefits to receiving countries, but may also create unintended consequences by altering the human capital investment and utilization of natives. In particular, growing the foreign STEM workforce may crowd natives out of STEM fields during college and STEM occupations later in their careers. These adverse effects may also be disproportionately felt by women and minorities.
– While increasing the foreign STEM workforce likely benefits the U.S. overall, it imposes substantial costs on black males, so that net gains/losses are not equally distributed. Black males, who are already disadvantaged in the labor market in many dimensions, bear a disproportionate burden.
– Results are imprecisely estimated but are suggestive of some adverse income effects, especially for black male college graduates and black and white female STEM graduates.