[Salon] Class dismissed: The effect of international student exclusion on the US STEM workforce and economic growth

[Chas Freeman <cwfresidence@gmail.com>]

https://www.piie.com/publications/policy-briefs/2026/class-dismissed-effect-international-student-exclusion-us-stem

Key Takeaways

• The US government has taken several steps since 2025 to restrict international students studying at US universities. Latest available data indicate that student visa issuance is about one-third below normal.
• This decline will affect the high-skill US workforce educated in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). For example, 35 percent of all STEM workers with a PhD are foreign-born and US-trained. With few exceptions, they came as international students.
• A sustained one-third reduction in US STEM graduates from abroad would shrink the high-skill STEM workforce by 6.2 percent overall and 11.5 percent at the PhD level.
• Given the key role of STEM workers in US innovation, entrepreneurship, and productivity growth, that decline would cut annual US real GDP by $240 billion to $481 billion within a decade—a loss the size of a mid-sized US state like Wisconsin or Utah.

Body

Restrictive US government policies since 2025 have reduced international student enrollment in US universities and made it harder for foreign graduates to work in the United States. This shift, if sustained, would hurt the US economy, slowing innovation and GDP growth, because foreign students are a key source of US STEM workforce talent. The authors recommend reforming US policies on student visas, work authorization, and green card processing to avert these losses.