abstract: 'Purpose This study investigates how working-age Asian immigrants''

  educational attainment and professional abilities when arriving in the

  United States have evolved over the past 4 decades and draws inferences

  on the impact of the US employment based visa policies.

  Design/methodology/approach Using data from the 1980, 1990 and 2000

  census and American Community Survey for 2001 to 2019, the study adopts

  multivariate regression and regression discontinuity design to

  investigate the trends in educational and occupation selection among

  Asian immigrants and the association with policy changes in the H1B visa

  program. Findings The findings suggest that new Asian immigrants were

  more positively selected for education than non-Asian immigrants and US

  natives and this pattern of positive selection increased over time.

  Newly arrived South Asian and East Asian immigrants had the highest

  share of highly educated professionals than Southeast Asians and US-born

  persons. I infer that the enactment and changes in the H1-B program

  might have contributed to the changing patterns of the educational and

  occupational selection among East and South Asian Immigrants. The

  results also shed light on how Asian immigrants'' skill selection might

  be related to the size of Asian diasporas in the US and sending

  countries'' income, inequality and education level. Originality/value The

  story of changing the skill profile (educational and occupational

  profile) of newly arrived Asian immigrants during 1980-2019 can provide

  valuable policy implications. US immigration policies are routinely

  criticized for being inefficient and outdated. The economic prosperity

  of Asian countries over time also provides an excellent opportunity to

  test the theories pertaining to how sending countries'' income,

  inequality and education level of the population are associated with

  Asian migrants'' education and occupation when arriving in the US. This

  study can provide insightful perspectives for policymakers and business

  decision-makers to adapt to the changing demographics of Asian migrant

  workers. The most recent reports on Asian immigrants in the US

  highlighted the aggregated trends of migration flow and education.

  Still, none have provided a longitudinal and nuanced review of Asian

  immigrants'' educational and occupational selection into the US.'
affiliation: 'Huang, XN (Corresponding Author), Northwestern Univ, Feinberg Sch Med,
  Chicago, IL 60611 USA.

  Huang, Xiaoning, Northwestern Univ, Feinberg Sch Med, Chicago, IL 60611 USA.'
author: Huang, Xiaoning
author-email: jack.huang@northwestern.edu
author_list:
- family: Huang
  given: Xiaoning
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1108/IJM-08-2021-0488
earlyaccessdate: AUG 2022
eissn: 1758-6577
files: []
issn: 0143-7720
journal: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANPOWER
keywords: 'Immigration; Immigration in the US; Immigration policy; Immigration

  theory'
keywords-plus: 'SELF-SELECTION; INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION; IMMIGRANT; DRAIN; INEQUALITY;

  EMPLOYMENT'
language: English
month: MAY 1
number: '3'
number-of-cited-references: '46'
orcid-numbers: Huang, Xiaoning/0000-0001-5813-5993
pages: 373-402
papis_id: 136dd1bfeecd6174ce8c620cf028a8b0
ref: Huang2023braingain
researcherid-numbers: Huang, Xiaoning/HHN-7229-2022
times-cited: '0'
title: 'Brain gain from Asia: educational and occupational selection of Asian migrants
  into the United States'
type: article
unique-id: WOS:000846887800001
usage-count-last-180-days: '0'
usage-count-since-2013: '0'
volume: '44'
web-of-science-categories: Industrial Relations \& Labor; Management
year: '2023'