1. TEMPLATE DESIGN © 2008 www.PosterPresentations.com Naturalized citizens’ top healthcare jobs were a mix of more and less skilled occupations, somewhat resembling native-born U.S. citizens. Noncitizens were more concentrated in less skilled jobs. They were slightly younger, less educated, and more often unemployed. They thus appeared to be at more long-term financial risk. Two to three times as many immigrants with bachelor’s and master’s degrees held lower skilled jobs compared with native-born citizens. Some immigrants thus appeared to be greatly overqualified for their jobs, though we do not know the specific degrees they held. Strategies are needed for the U.S. to grow more of its own healthcare workforce to reduce reliance on importing workers from poorer countries in Asia, Latin America, and Africa. The U.S. may not be making the most of its immigrant healthcare workers. Otherwise qualified immigrants may be unable to obtain U.S. credentials to practice their professions and may lack opportunities for upward mobility. More research is needed on the specific degrees and credentials they bring from their home countries, their career trajectories, and potential solutions to make better use of their skills. Davis G. Patterson, PhD; Bianca K. Frogner, PhD Top source countries/regions* of immigrants in healthcare Women healthcare workers Mean age of healthcare workers Healthcare worker migration and time in U.S. Married healthcare workers Metropolitan/nonmetropolitan residence of healthcare workers Conclusions Top states’ shares of all immigrants in healthcare jobs Immigrants’ top healthcare jobs Healthcare jobs employing greatest shares of immigrants Employees with bachelor’s degree or higher Employees with bachelor’s degree or higher in less skilled jobs Employees with master’s degree or higher In less skilled jobs Immigrants look ~2-3 times as likely as native-born to be greatly overqualified for less skilled healthcare jobs. This study was supported by the National Center for Health Workforce Analysis (NCHWA), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under cooperative agreement #U81HP27844. The information, conclusions and opinions expressed in this presentation are those of the authors and no endorsement by NCHWA, HRSA or HHS is intended or should be inferred. Davis Patterson, PhD Department of Family Medicine University of Washington Center for Health Workforce Studies davisp@uw.edu 206.543.1892 http://depts.washington.edu/uwchws/ Top three countries: 1. Philippines 2. Mexico 3. India The World Health Organization’s Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel recommends that countries monitor health care provider migration to detect imbalances, particularly between poorer and richer countries. This study examined the following questions:  How dependent is the U.S. on immigrants in health care jobs?  Where do immigrants working in health care come from, what are their demographic characteristics, and where do they reside in the U.S.?  What are the most common healthcare jobs of immigrants?  How well do their jobs align with their levels of education? Immigrant employment in the U.S.  Immigrants are 18% of all employed workers, 16% of workers employed in health care.  Employment in health care: Native born:10.8% Naturalized:14.4% Noncitizen: 6.5%  Unemployment rate among health care workers (2011-13), compared to 9.0% for total labor force: Native born:4.7% Naturalized:3.4% Noncitizen:6.0% Findings Implications Using a 3-year (2011-13) pooled, weighted sample of the American Community Survey (ACS), an annual household survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, the study team  selected persons ages 18-75 employed in healthcare  identified native-born U.S. citizens and immigrants (naturalized citizens and noncitizens), and  computed aggregate statistics. Occupations were defined following the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) System. Methods Findings Objective * Due to sample size, some individual countries were suppressed. Acknowledgment Contact