HIGH-SKILLED IMMIGRANTS IN COLORADO

Learn more about the need for high-skilled immigration reform at www.LetPJStay.com

COLORADO FACES A LARGE STEM SHORTAGE

• There are more STEM job openings than unemployed STEM workers: From 2009 to 2011, 1.5 STEM job openings were posted online in Colorado for every 1 unemployed STEM worker in the state.
• As STEM fields grow, this problem will likely get worse: Colorado will need to fill 172,560 new STEM jobs by 2020.
• The healthcare industry in particular will be affected by a shortfall of STEM workers: The federal government estimates Colorado will be short 14,700 registered nurses (RN) by 2020, leaving 31 percent of the state’s RN positions unfilled.

IMMIGRANTS ARE FILLING STEM SHORTAGES IN COLORADO 

• Immigrants are more likely to study STEM than the native-born: Immigrants are 9.7 percent of Colorado’s population, but in 2009, almost one in four of the students earning master’s or PhD degrees in STEM fields from the state’s research-intensive universities were foreign-born.
• Immigrants are a growing percentage of the STEM workforce: In 2010, 7.5 percent of STEM workers with an advanced degree in Colorado were foreign-born – more than double their share of the STEM workforce 10 years earlier.

HIGH-SKILLED IMMIGRATION REFORM WOULD HELP COLORADO’S COMPANIES COMPETE AND CREATE AMERICAN JOBS

• High-skilled visa holders create jobs for U.S.-born workers: The new H-1B visas awarded to Colorado between 2010 and 2013 will translate into 4,708 new jobs for U.S.-born workers in the state by 2020.