MIDWEST DIAGNOSIS: IMMIGRATION REFORM AND THE HEALTHCARE SECTOR
MIDWEST DIAGNOSIS: IMMIGRATION REFORM AND THE HEALTHCARE SECTOR

Summary/Abstract: Health care employs nearly 1.3 million across the Midwest and generates billions of dollars in wages, making it an integral part of the regional economy. Yet the sector faces a growing crisis, fueled by interconnected trends: the mounting healthcare needs of baby boomers increasingly strain the sector, just as it faces an unprecedented shortage of workers. In response, hospital administrators increasingly look to immigrant workers – foreign-born physicians, researchers, nurses, health aides, and hospital workers – to fill gaps in their workforces. However, their ability to hire this foreign-born talent is limited by an outdated federal immigration system. Informed by interviews with regional healthcare stakeholders and analysis of Census and Bureau of Labor Statistics data, this paper, originally published by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, explores the implications of a federal immigration system that does not respond to current economic and demographic realities. It includes recommendations for immigration policy reforms that will ensure the sector is able to maximize the contributions of foreign-born talent moving forward.

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