A new generation of expats is powering the US economy by creating jobs and innovation.
Half of America’s top technology companies were founded by first or second generation expats, according to new research.
The internet trends report reveals the founders of multinational corporations like Google, Facebook, Intel, EBay and LinkedIn all came from first generation expat families that settled in the US.
These companies – and many similar businesses – have boosted the US economy by $530 billion and spawned more than a million jobs.
Second generation expats have fared just as well.
Experts and entrepreneurs
Their credits include IBM, Oracle and Broadcom – worth another $520 billion to the economy.
The survey also discloses that the five leading technology companies are currently advertising more than 10,000 vacancies.
“This research shows just how important expats are to the US economy and how hard the government should work to encourage them,” said the report.
“Some of these corporations are working together to influence US immigration policy to make sure we can keep the best brains and nurture their ideas.”
The report, authored by Mary Meeker of venture capital firm KPCB, argues that America educates many technology experts and entrepreneurs but fails to make them welcome by failing to grant work permits to allow them to develop their ideas after leaving university.
The risk, she argues, is that rivals in Europe and the Asia Pacific will lure technology experts with laxer work and immigration controls.
Immigration issues
“This is already leading many American companies to set up offshore subsidiaries to nurture talent and innovation,” said Meeker. “The money from these projects is flowing into other countries and the government should act to reverse the flow.”
The report predicts the next technology battleground between the US and other economies will be mobile and tablet apps thanks to advances in the market by Google and Apple.
Google develops the Android mobile and tablet operating system, while Apple designs and sells iPhone and iPad.
The US now dominates the market and accounts for 88% of global sales in the market from a 5% standing start in 2005, says Meeker.
“Immigration policy caps the number of visas for technology workers at 85,000,” said Meeker. “The demand from companies is for two or three times more and supply just cannot keep up.
“The number of US born science, maths and technology graduates has dropped by a third in recent years and we need these expat graduates to keep up with the rest of the world.”
