Recent US Immigrants Better Educated, Report Says

Almost half of recent immigrants to the US have college degrees, according to a new study, released on Thursday. This demonstrates the steady rise of educational achievements, mostly fueled by the increasing number of immigrants from Asia.

Increasing immigration from nations such as China, the Philippines, and India have seen a rise to 48 percent in the number of newcomers with bachelor’s degrees between the years 2011 and 2015. This compares to 27 percent back in 1990, according to an analysis performed by Washington partisan think-tank, the Migration Policy Institute on US census data.

The findings come in the wake of comments made by President Donald Trump earlier this year, that there is too much low-skilled immigration to the US and that the country’s immigration policies should switch to a more merit-based system, to attract individuals who can support themselves rather than put further strain on public resources. A bill was introduced to Congress earlier this year to try to reduce the level of legal immigration to the US.

Jeanne Batalova, the senior policy analyst of the Institute, says that the increase in the education level of immigrants follows a greater investment in education on a global scale, as well as a reduction in poverty, and changing attitudes on gender and education. Batalova says that another factor in the increase is recent fall in the number of undocumented immigrants who are unlikely to have such degrees.