Migration of Professionals to the U.S. - Evidence from LinkedIn data, SocInfo 2014

1. Migration of professionals to the United States:
Evidence from LinkedIn data
Research published at SocInfo 2014
Bogdan State, Stanford University
Mario Rodriguez, LinkedIn Corporation
Dirk Helbing, ETH Zurich
Emilio Zagheni, University of Washington

2. 2

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7

8. LinkedIn
Data
 332+ MM Profiles
– 2MM Companies
– 50K Skills
– 25K Job Roles
– 150 Industries
– 200 countries
– 2+ decades

9. Two Key Take-aways
1. The share of highly-skilled professional migrants
choosing the U.S. as destination has decreased by half
in the last decade
2. Data from LinkedIn can offer a view into various global
socio-economic dynamics

10. Respecting Privacy: Anonymization by Aggregation

11. Meet Mathieu…EducationEmployment
France
USA
… a consenting,
highly-skilled,
employment-based
migrant

12. When Mathieu decided to migrate, he had a choice:
USA Elsewhere
Research question: how often do migrants choose the
USA over somewhere else?

13. Destination breakdown for
- Employment-based migration
- where migrant had MS. degree
27%
73%
2000
USA
elsewhere
12%
88%
2012
USA
elsewhere
50% decrease in last decade

14. • 1990: 22%
• 1998: 30%
• 2009: 14%
• 2012: 13%

15. Meet the other
Matthieu…
… a consenting,
highly-skilled,
education-based
migrant
EducationEmployment
France
USA

16. • 1990: 44%
• 1998: 42%
• 2009: 25%
• 2012: 35%

17. Top Univ. (QS):
– 406/500 non-US
– 2000: 24%
– 2012: 12%
In STEM:
– Edu. (-35%)
– 2000: 54%
– 2012: 35%
– Emp. (-59%)
– 2000: 37%
– 2012: 15%

18. Where do highly-skilled migrants go when not the USA?

19. Where do highly-skilled migrants go when not the USA?
 USA
– 2000: 32%
– 2012: 14%
 Europe
– 2000: 41%
– 2012: 38%
 Canada
– 2000: 6.8%
– 2012: 5.5%
 Asia:
– 2000: 10%
– 2012: 25%
 Africa:
– 2000: 1.3%
– 2012: 3.3%
 Australia & Oceania:
– 2000: 5.7%
– 2012: 7.9%
 Latin America & Caribbean
– 2000: 3.7
– 2012: 5.7%

20. Canada
USA
Latin America
and Caribbean
Africa
N. Europe
W. Europe
Australia and
Oceania
Rest of Asia
Region
Boundaries

21. Calibration:
American
Community
Survey
- US Census Bureau
- Yearly survey
- under-reporting?
Reversals line up perfectly

22. Summary
1. The share of highly-skilled professional migrants
choosing the U.S. as destination has decreased by half
in the last decade
– The pattern holds for:
 Migrants with BS, MS, PhD
 Migrants from highly-ranked universities worldwide
– Recent reversal for education-based migrants
 Mostly driven by non-STEM degree pursuants
 For STEM: 54% in 2000, 35% in 2012
– Asian countries saw the biggest share increase
2. Data from LinkedIn can offer a view into various global
socio-economic dynamics
– Long duration, consistent definitions, real-time pulse