Critics of high-skilled immigration like to portray temporary student visas as a source of cheap labor, making it easy for employers to undercut the wages of American workers.[1]
The critics use this claim to support their preference for denying foreign graduates of American universities access to the U.S. labor market. And they might well get their way.[2]
Do the critics have a point?
The National Survey of College Graduates looks at workers in the United States with at least a bachelor’s degree, identifying immigrants who first arrived on a student visa, such as the F-1 or J-1. The latest update to the survey has just arrived, and what it shows clearly is that workers who first come to the country on student visas not only thrive, but typically out-earn their native-born counterparts.
The data also shows that foreign graduates are more likely to work in jobs performing R&D or to be entrepreneurs, both of which create beneficial spillovers and job opportunities for American workers…
Connor O’Brien, Economic Innovation Group, June 12, 2025
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