1 U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, “Gross Domestic Product [GDP],” Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, accessed February 9, 2020, https://fred.stlouisfed.org/ series/GDP.
2 Stuart Anderson, “The World Has Changed since 1990, U.S. Immigration Policy Has Not,” National Foundation for American Policy Policy Brief, September 2015.
3 Daniel Griswold and Jack Salmon, “Attracting Global Talent to Ensure America Is First in Innovation,” Mercatus Center at George Mason University Policy Brief, March 2019.
4 David Bier, “Immigration Wait Times from Quotas Have Doubled: Green Card Backlogs Are Long, Growing, and Inequitable,” Cato Institute Policy Analysis no. 873, June 18, 2019.
5 Daniel Griswold, Reforming the US Immigration System to Promote Growth (Arlington, VA: Mercatus Center at George Mason University, October 2017).
6 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Characteristics of H‑1B Specialty Occupation Workers: Fiscal Year 2017 Annual Report to Congress October 1, 2016–September 30, 2017 (Washington: Department of Homeland Security, April 9, 2018).
7 “Employment-Based Immigration,” Senate Republican Policy Committee, February 6, 2018, https://www. rpc.senate.gov/policy-papers/employment-basedimmigration.
8 “Establishment Data: Table B‑1a. Employees on Nonfarm Payrolls by Industry Sector and Selected Industry Detail, Seasonally Adjusted,” Employment and Earnings Table B‑1a, Current Employment Statistics—CES (National), Bureau of Labor Statistics, last modified February 7, 2020. “Professional and technical services” is CES ID 60540000.
9 “Establishment Data: Table B‑1a.” “Architectural and engineering services” is CES ID 60541300, and “Computer systems design and related services” is CES ID 60541500.
10 As an alternative to official employment data compiled by the government, the escalator could be indexed to more timely employment indicators generated in the private sector, such as the number of job vacancies “scraped” from relevant employment websites.
11 The proposed adjustment and escalator mechanism could also be applied to temporary work visas for lower-skilled workers, such as the H‑2A and H‑2B visa categories. But demand for those visas also reflects the decreasing supply of native-born workers who are available to fill those jobs and thus the demand is not as closely tied to the employment numbers in the relevant categories.
12 Jake Ulick, “Nasdaq Off 20% This Year: Another Day, Another Tech Sell-Off, This Time Amid Chip Stock Downgrades,” CNNMoney, October 10, 2000.
13 Neil G. Ruiz, “Key Facts about the U.S. H‑1B Visa Program,” Fact Tank, Pew Research Center, April 27, 2017.
14 For an overview of commission proposals, see American Council on International Personnel, Examining Proposals to Create a New Commission on Employment-Based Immigration, June 2009.
15 Daniel Costa, Future Flows and Worker Rights in S. 744 (Washington: Economic Policy Institute, November 12, 2013).
16 For an overview of commission proposals, see American Council on International Personnel, Examining Proposals to Create a New Commission on Employment-Based Immigration.