Contradicts new National Academies report

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New Wage Data Shows No Skilled Worker Shortage ([link removed])
Contradicts new National Academies report
claiming a need for foreign STEM workers
Washington, D.C. (August 30, 2024) – Many argue the United States needs to bring in more immigrants to work in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) due to a labor “shortage.” However, data recently obtained ([link removed]) by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows little long-term increase in real (inflation-adjusted) compensation for STEM workers. This is powerful evidence that demand for STEM labor is not outstripping supply.

The compensation data also contradict a new report ([link removed]) released Thursday by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, which again makes the argument for more immigration due to a supposed labor shortage.

The wage and benefit data comes from the Employer Costs for Employee Compensation data provided to CIS by the BLS as part of a custom data request. This data, and other information, are part of a new CIS analysis ([link removed]) that makes clear that STEM workers are not in short supply.

“Repeated claims of a STEM worker shortage have consistently proved false,” said Steven Camarota, the Center’s Director of Research. He continued: “If such a shortage truly existed, we would see wages and benefits rising rapidly, which is not happening. These stagnant wages harm workers and discourage Americans from going into STEM fields.”

Among the findings in this CIS analysis:
* From 2008 to 2023 the BLS’s Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC) data show inflation-adjusted hourly compensation (wages and benefits) for STEM workers in the United States increased just 2.3 percent, or 0.15 percent a year on average.
* The ECEC data show that hourly wages increased barely at all, and benefits increased 7.4 percent from 2008 to 2023, or 0.5 percent a year on average.
* Data from the ECEC shows that hourly compensation for STEM workers was 7.1 percent lower in 2023 than in 2019 before Covid, with wages down 7.6 percent and benefits down 6.2 percent.
* Analysis by CIS of the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, which has annual earnings data, also shows only modest increases from 2000 to 2022 for individual STEM categories, and outright declines since Covid.
* Despite the wage data, the National Academies report, entitled “International Talent Programs in the Changing Global Environment ([link removed]) ”, argues that there are not enough STEM degree holders to meet demand, and significantly more foreign workers and students need to be admitted or allowed to stay.
* The American Community Survey in 2022 showed 8.6 million STEM workers but 17.2 million people with STEM degrees.
* The National Academies report never deals with the issue of stagnant wages and benefits and the role they may play in hindering the recruitment of STEM degree holders already in the country.
* The American Community Survey shows that 29 percent of STEM workers are now foreign-born in the United States. The National Academies report does not address the research that these workers may crowd out Americans from these fields.

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