Report: There is No STEM Worker “Shortage” In America

Worker shortages are just another way to justify further mass migration and importation of cheap labor.

A new report by researchers Steven Camarota and Jason Richwine of the Center for Immigration Studies, discovered that there is no shortage in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workers. 

The STEM worker shortage and similar worker shortage talking points are used to create a narrative to justify increases in immigration and new sources of cheap labor. A National Academies report released on August 29, titled “International Talent Programs in the Changing Global Environment”, is the most recent report to make the case that the United States needs to recruit and import more immigrants to work in the STEM sector.

Camarota and Richwine noted that for there to be a worker shortage US companies would have to provide “increasingly generous compensation to recruit and retain these allegedly scarce workers.”

According to their research, the total pay for STEM workers in real (inflation-adjusted) wages between 2008 and 2023 did not increase significantly. Compensation increased at a rate of only 0.15% annually. Additionally, pay for STEM workers was 7.1% lower in 2023 than in 2019 prior to the pandemic, with wages falling by 7.6%  and benefits dropping by 6.2%. Camarota and Richwine correctly ask “How could a shortage exist without upward pressure on compensation?”

The two researchers used data from the Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC), which the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) produces. While the BLS does not usually put out ECEC data dealing with STEM workers specifically, the CIS researchers were still able to acquire the data from BLS via a custom request. 

Academics such as Howard University Professor Ron Hira have long argued that worker shortages are used to rationalize further increases in immigration. He said, “Unsubstantiated claims that there is a significant shortage of STEM talent have been a running feature of STEM workforce policy discussions” for decades. He continued by noting that “wage growth, the most direct measure of a mismatch between labor demand and supply, is often left out of the discussion entirely.” 

One figure from this report highlighted the total number of foreign-born STEM workers in the US from 2000 to 2023 and their share of the STEM labor force. That figure grew from 23% to 29% in 2023, which is almost double the foreign-born share of the total US population. In addition, the total number of foreign-born STEM workers has increased by 104% since 2010. 

It’s abundantly clear that foreign share of STEM workers is growing in the US and wages remain stagnant. At some point, we have to call a spade, a spade: Mass migration is a plot to not only demographically displace White Americans but also suppress their wages across all sectors of the economy.

Now, more than ever, we need a moratorium on all forms of immigration to protect the US’s demographic integrity and maintain a stable economic system.