37 percent of Silicon Valley foreign-born

U.S. students have been urged in the past few years to pursue careers in STEM-related industries due to a shortage of American tech employees, but a new report by the Institute for Regional Studies found Silicon Valley tendency to hire foreign-born workers.

The tech hub has a significantly higher population share that is foreign-born than are U.S. citizens or California residents. Thirty-seven percent of Silicon Valley’s population are non-citizens who entered the U.S. to fill a specific job in the tech industry. Compare that to California’s 27 percent of the population that is from another country and a 13 percent national average.