US to lose high-skilled entrepreneurs: Study

The United States stands to lose high-skilled immigrant entrepreneurs and science and engineering workforce due to protectionist measures it is putting in place in the wake of the economic recession, cautions a latest study.

The survey comes in the context of the large banks, such as Bank of America, and other US companies reducing plans to hire foreign national students due to concerns over political backlash amidst growing US job losses.

The Kauffman Foundation study released on Wednesday indicates that lessening the number of foreign national students in US jobs may be detrimental to the economic health of the country by accelerating the return of talented immigrant students to their home countries.

"Policymakers are misguided if they believe these talented next-generation entrepreneurs and innovators threaten US jobs. They, in fact, offer the promise of more jobs by building successful, high-growth companies -- either in their own businesses or those for which they work," said Robert E Litan, vice president of Research and Policy at Kauffman.

The study, conducted by Duke University professor and Harvard researcher Vivek Wadhwa, surveyed 1,224 foreign  nationals currently studying in US institutions of higher learning or who had graduated by the end of the 2008 academic school year.

According to the findings of the study titled "Losing the World's Best and Brightest: America's New Immigrant Entrepreneurs, Part V," suggest that very few foreign students would like to stay in the United States permanently -- only six per cent of Indian, 10 per cent of Chinese and 15 per cent of Europeans.

Fewer foreign students than the historical norm expressed interest in staying in the United States after they graduate. Only 58 per cent of Indian, 54 per cent of Chinese and 40 per cent of European students wish to stay for several years after graduation, it said.

The study also found that a significant majority of foreign students -- 85 per cent of Indians and Chinese and 72 per cent of Europeans -- are concerned about obtaining work visas; 74 per cent of Indians, 76 per cent of Chinese and 58 per cent of Europeans are worried about obtaining jobs in their fields.

A key impetus behind students' intentions to depart is the fear that they will not be able to find a job in the US upon graduation and their growing belief that the US economy will lag global growth rates in the near future.

"Foreign students receive nearly 60 per cent of all engineering doctorates and more than half of all mathematics, computer sciences, physics and economics doctorates awarded in the United States. These foreign nationals end up making jobs, not taking jobs," said Wadhwa.