Peterson Institute for International Economics: “Class dismissed – the effect of international student exclusion on the US STEM workforce and economic growth”

In June 2026, The Peterson Institute for International Economics released a new Policy Brief analyzing the impact that the exclusion of international students has had on the US STEM workforce and economic growth. The report had the following four key takeaways:

1. The Trump Administration’s efforts to restrict immigration have resulted in a one-third reduction in student visa issuance;

2. The international student visa decline will have a substantial impact on the US STEM workforce, as 35% of all STEM workers with a Ph.D. were not born in the US but came here as international students;

3. A continuous one-third reduction in STEM graduates in the US would shrink the high-skilled STEM workforce by 6.2% overall and 11.5% for workers with doctorates; and

4. The reductions noted in (3) above “would cut annual US real GDP by $240 billion to $480 billion within a decade – a loss the size of a mid-sized US state like Wisconsin or Utah.”

Read the report from the Peterson Institute here.