Migration of Professional Manpower to the United States

Over 50% of the professional immigrants to the US currently come from developing nations. There is also a large number of non-immigrants who enter the US and later adjust their status to immigrant. This brain drain of professionals to the US has long been criticized. To investigate professional immi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Southern economic journal 1984-01, Vol.50 (3), p.814-830
Main Authors: Agarwal, Vinod B., Winkler, Donald R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Americas
Brain drain
Children
Citizenship
Demography
Developed Countries
Developing Countries
Economics
Emigration and Immigration
Employment
Health Manpower
Human capital flight
Human migration
Immigrant visas
Immigration
Immigration policy
Income
International students
LDCs
Manycountries
Migration
Noncitizens
North America
Personnel
Population
Population Dynamics
Professional
Public Policy
Salaries and Fringe Benefits
Socioeconomic Factors
Spouses
Statistical data
Studies
United States
Visas
Wage adjustments
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Summary:Over 50% of the professional immigrants to the US currently come from developing nations. There is also a large number of non-immigrants who enter the US and later adjust their status to immigrant. This brain drain of professionals to the US has long been criticized. To investigate professional immigration, focusing on the constraints to immigration and adjustment of status imposed by immigration policies, models based on human capital theory are used. This theory implies that one will immigrate if the net present value of benefits is positive. Following this theory, a model of professional migration states that the propensity to migrate is a function of the average wages in the regions of origin and destination and the associated moving costs. Regression analysis shows relative wage rate to be more important to total professional immigration than is relative income. Thus, it is likely that migration to the US from developing nations will decrease in magnitude for those countries experiencing higher rates of growth in professional wages than does the US. Other factors which influence such immigration include ease of obtaining labor certification and constraints on status adjustments.
ISSN:0038-4038
2325-8012
DOI:10.2307/1057995