Immigrants and the Healthcare Workforce

Abstract

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that healthcare services will account for one out of every six new jobs from 2002 to 2012. Immigrants are a significant percentage of workers in both highskill and low-skill jobs (one fourth of both physicians and nursing aides) in the healthcare industry. Within this industry, immigrants are at least as important in meeting demand for low-skilled jobs as they are for the more hotly debated upper end. Even so, the authors’findings suggest that recent wage increases are attracting more registered nurses, offsetting claims of shortages in the short term. Immigration policy should be flexible to meet short-term shifts in demand, but it should not preempt domestic responses.