Business and the Workforce

What role do immigrants play in American business and the American workforce? Immigrants work in a range of skilled positions in the U.S. and start businesses that boost the American economy. Learn more about immigrant entrepreneurship and workforce participation.

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Practical Guides and FAQs for the Federal STEM Initiatives

Learn how institutions, employers, or talented researchers and other highly skilled individuals in the STEM fields can take advantage of the Early Career STEM Research Initiative.

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  • Special Report

The Politics of Skill: Rethinking the Value of "Low-Skilled" Immigrant Workers

Publication Date: 
March 15, 2012
The political discourse surrounding the incorporation of immigrants into the U.S. labor market tends to sort immigrant workers into two broad and mutually exclusive categories: high-skilled workers...
  • Fact Sheet

Always in Demand: The Economic Contributions of Immigrant Scientists and Engineers

Publication Date: 
March 4, 2012
With the U.S. economy in the midst of a prolonged slump, it’s hard to believe that any industry would actually benefit from having more workers. But that is precisely the case when it comes to those...
  • Special Report

Immigrant Entrepreneurs: Creating Jobs and Strengthening the Economy

Publication Date: 
January 25, 2012
There is widespread agreement across a number of key economic planning groups that immigrant entrepreneurs create jobs and strengthen the economy. Yet, the U.S. immigration system often forces out...
  • Special Report

Our American Immigrant Entrepreneurs: The Women

Publication Date: 
December 8, 2011
When Americans picture an immigrant entrepreneur, they likely imagine a man who began the migration of his family, later bringing his wife over to become a volunteer assistant in the shop. This image...
  • Press Release

Immigrants in America: More Skilled and Educated Than Ever Before

June 9, 2011

Washington D.C. - Today, the Brookings Institution released a new report,

  • Press Release

Federal Court Decision Protects H-1B Employees from Wrongful Arrest

April 13, 2011

Washington D.C. - A recent ruling from a federal judge in

  • Fact Sheet

The U.S. Economy Still Needs Highly Skilled Foreign Workers

Publication Date: 
March 30, 2011
It might seem that persistently high unemployment rates over the past few years have rendered moot the debate over whether or not the United States really “needs” the highly skilled foreign workers...
  • Litigation

Visa Programs for High-Skilled Workers

On behalf of AILA, the American Immigration Council, in cooperation with counsel at Steptoe & Johnson LLP, filed a FOIA lawsuit against DHS and USCIS in July 2010 seeking the public release of records concerning agency policies and procedures related to fraud investigations in the H-1B program.
  • Special Report

Why Immigrants Can Drive the Green Economy

Publication Date: 
June 23, 2010
The 2000 Census found that immigrants, while accounting for 12 percent of the population, made up nearly half of the all scientists and engineers with doctorate degrees. Nearly 70 percent of the men...
  • Research and Analysis

A Conversation about the Economic Effects of Immigration on African Americans

Publication Date: 
July 14, 2009
Anti-immigrant groups have repeatedly tried to drive a wedge between African Americans and immigrants by capitalizing on the myth that immigrants take American jobs. In a new Perspectives piece for...

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