Amid President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, new research reveals that immigrants reduce elderly mortality as among the newcomers are foreign-born healthcare workers who are arriving amid a critical nationwide shortage.
Indians make up a significant portion of the U.S. healthcare workforce, comprising roughly 7% of all immigrant healthcare professionals. Notably, India is the leading source of foreign-trained doctors, with nearly 22% (roughly 59,000) of all immigrant doctors being Indian-born, and 6% of registered nurses.
The addition of a thousand new immigrants in a metropolitan area reduces elderly mortality by about 10 deaths than would be typical, according to the study’s authors, who hail from Harvard Medical School, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Rochester.
More immigration brings more physicians, nurses, and aides, but especially long-term care workers, both for private homes and nursing facilities, says David Grabowski, HMS professor of healthcare policy and a study author as cited by Harvard Gazette.
The study indicates that adding 1,000 immigrants to what’s called a “metropolitan statistical area” — a city plus surrounding towns — means an additional 142 foreign-born healthcare workers of all kinds.
Read: US population growth hits slowest pace since Covid-19 as immigration falls
The study also indicates that foreign-born workers don’t displace those born here but add to a healthcare workforce that remains in short supply. One sign of that, Grabowski said, is that increased immigration leads to a net increase in the long-term care workforce rather than competition for a static number of openings.
Plus, he said, the expanded pool of available workers does not depress wages as might be expected if many were vying for a limited number of jobs.
“This result is very supportive of the value that foreign-born workers add to the health of our population,” Grabowski said. “When you have an increase in immigration, you end up with more long-term care workers. It’s additive, not substitutive. It doesn’t crowd out anyone’s jobs, and it doesn’t appear to lower wages at all.”
The research, published as a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper in February, highlighs the already crucial role of immigrants in the U.S. healthcare system.
About 18% of all healthcare workers are immigrants, the authors wrote, while roughly one in five nursing-home workers are immigrants and one in three home-care workers are immigrants.
“There’s shortages across the board, and I think there are opportunities for immigrants to contribute in all of these areas,” Grabowski said.
Read: Trump has gone too far with his immigration policies: AAPI survey
Prior research indicates that, as immigration increases, institutionalization of older adults falls, likely because more home-care workers become available. The ability to age at home, Grabowski said, is a factor in the decline in mortality revealed in the current paper.
That’s because older adults tend to do better aging in a familiar environment, close to family and friends. More healthcare workers not only improve access to care but also quality of care, both at home and in nursing homes.
The paper indicates that a 25% increase in the flow of immigrants nationally would reduce elderly mortality by about 5,000. However, if the political priority is to limit overall immigration, then it makes sense to consider special visas for foreign-born healthcare workers or those willing to enter the healthcare workforce, Grabowski suggested.
The nation’s demographic trends suggest that the worker shortage is only going to get worse, Grabowski said, with fewer younger workers providing care for more older adults.
“Immigration could be one piece of a broader set of policies, including wages, benefits, and making this a better job” he said. “When you look at the demographics, it’s really alarming in terms of the number of older adults we’ll have relative to the number of middle-aged individuals,” Grabowski said. “We’re going to need help caring for all these older adults.”