Pakistan Among Top Sources of Foreign-Born STEM Workers in America
As of 2019, there were 35,000 Pakistan-born STEM workers in the United States, according to the American Immigration Council. They included information technologists, software developers, engineers and scientists. These figures do not include medical doctors and healthcare workers.
 |
| Foreign-Born STEM Workers in America. Source: American Immigration Council |
Foreign-born workers make up a growing share of America's STEM workforce. As of 2019, foreign-born workers made up almost a quarter of all STEM workers in the country. This is a significant increase from 2000, when just 16.4% of the country’s STEM workforce was foreign-born. Between 2000 and 2019, the overall number of STEM workers in the United States increased by 44.5 percent, from 7.5 million to more than 10.8 million, according to American Immigration Council.
 |
| India and Pakistan Among Top 10 Countries Receiving US Immigrant Visas. Source: Visual Capitalist |
India topped the top 10 list of foreign-born STEM workers with 721,000, followed by China (273,000), Mexico (119,000), Vietnam (100,000), Philippines (87,000), South Korea (64,000), Canada (56,000), Taiwan (53,000), Russia (45,000) and Pakistan (35,000). Enormous number of Indian STEM workers in the United States can at least partly be attributed to the fact that India's "body shops" have mastered the art of gaming the US temporary work visa system. Last year, Indian nationals sponsored by "body shops" like Cognizant, Infosys and TCS received 166,384 H1B visas for work in the United States. By comparison, only 1,107 Pakistanis were granted H1B visas in Fiscal Year 2022. In addition to H1B work visas, 9,300 Indian nationals and 7,200 Pakistani nationals received immigrant visas to settle in the United States as permanent residents in 2021.
 | |
|
In addition to 35,000 Pakistan-born STEM workers, there were 12,454 Pakistan-born and Pakistan-trained medical doctors practicing in the United States, making the South Asian nation the second largest source of medical doctors in America. Pakistan produced 157,102 STEM graduates last year, putting it among the world's top dozen or so countries. About 43,000 of these graduates are in information technology (IT).
 | |
|
 |
| H1B Visas Issued in Pakistan. Source: Visagrader.com |
Every year, applicants sponsored by Indian body shops claim the lion's share of H1B visas. In 2022, Indians received 166,384 new H1B visas, accounting for nearly three quarters of all such visas issued by the US government. The figures reported as India IT exports are in fact the wages earned by millions of Indian H1B workers in the United States.
Related Links:
2021: A Banner Year For Tech Startups in Pakistan
Pakistan Projected to Be World's 6th Largest Economy By 2075
Fintech Revolution in Pakistan
Growing Share of Working Age Population in Pakistan
Pakistan Scientific Output is World's Fastest Growing
India's Chandrayaan 3 Success: Can Pakistanis Explore Space?
Digital Pakistan 2022
Pakistan's Large and Growing Civil Nuclear Program
Riaz Haq's Youtube Channel
Comments
https://data.census.gov/table/ACSSPP1Y2022.S0201?q=S0201:+Selected+Population+Profile+in+the+United+States&t=-02:-04:070:Ancestry:Income+and+Poverty
Pakistani-Americans Median Household Earning: $106,281, Mean Earnings: $149,178
---------------
White Americans: Median household Income $78,636 Mean Earnings $112,415
African Americans : $52,238 $76,888
American Indian Alaska Native $61,778 $85,838
Asian Indian $152,341 $197,732
Bangladeshi $80,288 $116,500
Chinese $101,738 $160,049
Taiwanese $122,952 $180,906
Filipino $109,090 $122,635
Pakistanis $106,286 $149,178
Nepal $92,262 $120,146
Asians $104,646 $149,363
https://carnegieendowment.org/2021/06/09/social-realities-of-indian-americans-results-from-2020-indian-american-attitudes-survey-pub-84667
Thirty percent of non-citizen IAAS respondents possess a green card (or a permanent residency card), which places them on a pathway to gaining U.S. citizenship. Twenty-seven percent are H-1B visa holders, a visa status for high-skilled or specialty workers in the United States that has historically been dominated by the technology sector. On average, an H-1B visa holder reports living in the United States for eight years, although 36 percent of H-1B beneficiaries report spending more than a decade in the country (that is, they arrived before 2010). Eighteen percent of non-citizens reside in the United States on an H-4 visa, a category for immediate family members of H-1B visa holders. Fourteen percent of non-citizens are on F-1, J-1, or M-1 visas—categories of student or scholar visas—while another 5 percent hold an L-1 visa, a designation available to employees of an international company with offices in the United States. A small minority of non-citizen respondents—6 percent—claim some other visa status.
------------------------
The overwhelming majority of Hindus with a caste identity—more than eight in ten—self-identify as belonging to the category of General or upper caste.
In the past two years, an overall 33% increase has been noted
https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1129600-us-records-16-increase-in-admission-of-pakistani-students
A United States Department of State report recorded a 16% increase in the admission of Pakistani students to universities across the country.
The annual Open Doors Report for 2022-23 report, prepared in collaboration with the Institute of International Education (IIE), highlighted a substantial increase in the number of students from Pakistan studying in higher education institutions in the US.
"During 2022-2023, there were 10,164 Pakistani students, compared to 8,772 in the previous year, indicating an impressive 16% increase," the report read.
It also underscores the continued prominence of the US as the top destination for international study in the 2022-2023 academic year. Notably, the data reveals a significant milestone, with the US hosting over one million (1,057,188) international students during this period, marking a remarkable 12% increase from the previous academic year and representing the fastest growth rate in over four decades.
-----
International students in the U.S., by country of origin 2022/23 | Statista
10,164 students from Pakistan studying in America, ranking the country the 16th largest source of international students in the US
https://www.statista.com/statistics/233880/international-students-in-the-us-by-country-of-origin/
https://www.dawn.com/news/1830608/pakistans-historic-lunar-mission-to-be-launched-on-friday-aboard-china-lunar-probe
The Institute of Space Technology on Tuesday said Pakistan’s “historic” lunar mission iCube-Q will be launched on May 3 at 12:50pm on board China’s Chang’e 6 lunar probe from Hainan, China.
According to the Institute of Space Technology (IST), the satellite ICUBE-Q has been designed and developed by IST in collaboration with China’s Shanghai University SJTU and Pakistan’s national space agency Suparco.
ICUBE-Q orbiter carries two optical cameras to image the lunar surface.
Following successful qualification and testing, iCube-Q has now been integrated with the Chang’e 6 mission.
Chang’e 6 is the sixth in a series of China’s lunar exploration missions.
The launch activity will be telecast live on the IST website and IST social media platforms.
China’s lunar mission will touch down on the moon’s far side to collect samples from the surface and return to Earth for research.
The mission holds significance for Pakistan as it will also take a CubeSat Satellite iCube-Q, developed by IST.
https://x.com/CathayPak/status/1784986592819450136
CubeSats are miniature satellites typically characterised by their small size and standardised design.
They are constructed in a cubic shape, consisting of modular components that adhere to specific size constraints.
These satellites often weigh no more than a few kilogrammes and were deployed in space for various purposes.
The primary purpose of CubeSats was to facilitate scientific research, technology development, and educational initiatives in space exploration.
These satellites were utilised for a wide range of missions, including Earth observations, remote sensing, atmospheric research, communications, astronomy and technology demonstration.
Due to their compact size and relatively low cost compared to traditional satellites, CubeSats offered opportunities for universities, research institutions and commercial entities to participate in space missions and gather valuable data for scientific advancement and innovation.
They serve as platforms for testing new technologies and concepts, enabling access to space for a broader range of users and promoting collaboration within the space community.
Last year in August, India became the first nation to land a craft near the Moon’s south pole, a historic triumph for its ambitious, cut-price space programme.
https://restofworld.org/2024/github-developer-bangladesh-nigeria-pakistan/
GitHub has released new data tracking developer accounts by country.
Year over year, the data shows Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Pakistan had the fastest-growing developer population.
For developers around the world, a busy GitHub profile is one of the best ways to land a programming job. The platform is one of the largest hubs for software development globally, split between public repositories (or repos) used for open-source collaboration and closed repos open only to project participants.
But while GitHub has long been used to assess individual programmers, the platform’s data also shows the developer contributions of every country on Earth, painting an interesting picture of which nations are rising the fastest. GitHub releases the data quarterly as part of a project it calls the Innovation Graph, with the most recent batch of data released on January 18.
For some countries, the data shows a surprising jump in the number of developers over just the past year. In the three months leading up to September 2023, there were 945,696 Bangladeshi developers on GitHub. During the same period in 2022, there were only 568,145 developers in the country with accounts, making for a year-over-year jump of nearly two-thirds. It’s the largest proportional increase for any country in the world.
Like any data set, it comes with limitations: This data only measures registered accounts, rather than code commits, so it's more heavily skewed to less active contributors.
Even GitHub itself is only a fraction of the software development happening in a given country. But the data shows a rising tide of programming in countries long ignored by much of the Western tech industry.
By Zohaib Altaf and Nimrah Javed
June 27, 2024
https://thediplomat.com/2024/06/pakistans-quantum-quest-hurdles-and-hopes/
Pakistan is poised to make significant strides in the field of quantum technology with the establishment of its National Center for Quantum Computing, as announced by Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal. This initiative marks a critical step toward overcoming the global quantum divide – if Pakistan can overcome the associated challenges, including economic constraints and a significant brain drain.
Globally, the quantum technology market is expected to burgeon, reaching an estimated $106 billion by 2040. This growth is fueled by robust investments, with private investors pouring $1.5 billion into quantum startups in 2023 alone. Public sector investment has also been significant, surpassing $38 billion globally. The United States, European Union, and Canada collectively committed over $3 billion in 2022. China leads the way with a staggering $15.3 billion total investment.
Despite these global advancements, a significant quantum divideexists, as the majority of countries lack national quantum initiatives. This divide creates substantial disparities in technological capabilities and economic opportunities. Countries without robust quantum technology infrastructures are at risk of falling behind, facing increased cyber vulnerabilities, and struggling to compete in the global economy.
For Pakistan, this divide is particularly concerning. Kaspersky Lab has ranked Pakistan among the most unprotected countriesin terms of cybersecurity, highlighting the urgent need for improved defenses as countries venture into the quantum technology domain.
India’s ambitious quantum initiatives further underscore the challenges facing Pakistan. India’s investment in quantum technology not only bolsters its technological capabilities but also poses a strategic challenge to Pakistan. India has also announced its National Quantum Mission, investing approximately $740 million over eight years. In addition, India is also cooperating with the United States, Australia, and Russia on quantum technology, forging strategic partnerships to enhance its capabilities and position in the global quantum landscape.
The Indian Army’s emphasis on integrating quantum computinginto its defense systems highlights the potential for a significant shift in the regional balance of power. Pakistani Army Chief Gen. Asim Munir has acknowledged these developments, emphasizing the importance of Pakistan’s investment in quantum computingto maintain its strategic equilibrium.
However, Pakistan’s efforts to establish a successful quantum initiative are hindered by several challenges. The most pressing issue is the ongoing brain drain. From 1971 to 2022, over 6 million highly qualified and skilled professionals emigrated from Pakistan, including doctors, engineers, and IT experts. In 2022 alone, 92,000 highly educated professionals left the country, with nearly 200,000 people emigrating in the first three months of 2023. This trend poses a substantial challenge to Pakistan’s efforts to build and sustain a robust quantum technology sector.
In a country where illiteracy rates are high and educational standards are low, the mass exodus of young and educated professionals is particularly troubling. According to the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, 67 percent of Pakistani youths want to leave the country. This statistic underscores the difficulty of retaining talent and bringing back professionals from abroad to work on quantum initiatives. The challenge is further compounded by Pakistan’s economic situation. The country is currently under an IMF program, which imposes stringent financial constraints and increases the risks associated with investing in high-cost technologies like quantum computing.
https://www.brecorder.com/news/40304707
The government has announced the establishment of ten new Software Technology Parks across the country by next year, according to Radio Pakistan.
This was stated during a briefing by the Ministry of Information Technology to a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad.
The meeting was informed that 100 new e-employment centers will also be set up in the country by next year.
The project of Islamabad IT Park will be completed next year with the cooperation of South Korea. It will provide startups, incubation centers, banks, restaurants, and other facilities.
The meeting was informed that South Korea is also collaborating in establishing an information technology park project near Jinnah International Airport in Karachi which will be completed by 2027.
So far, 43 software technology parks have been established in 29 cities of the country.
---------
Tech parks for growth
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1177295-tech-parks-for-growth
In today’s fast-paced global economy, technology parks play a crucial role in fostering industrial development by providing an ecosystem conducive to innovation, collaboration and entrepreneurship.
These designated areas are often referred to as research and technology parks or science parks. They can serve as catalysts for economic growth, driving technological advancements, attracting investment, and nurturing talent. By bringing together academia, industry, and government, these parks facilitate collaboration and knowledge exchange, leading to breakthrough discoveries and technological advancements.
They are often located within or near universities so that they have ready access to highly trained workers in various fields. In Pakistan, I was involved in establishing a technology park in the National University of Science and Technology in Islamabad as well as setting up several software technology parks in early 2001 in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar. More recently, an excellent technology park was established under my supervision within the Pak-Austria Fachhochschule (University of Applied Science and Engineering) in Haripur, Hazara.
Technology parks play a crucial role in enhancing the competitiveness of industries by providing access to state-of-the-art infrastructure, specialized facilities, and cutting-edge equipment. Companies located within technology parks benefit from shared resources such as research laboratories, testing facilities, and prototyping centres, enabling them to accelerate the development and commercialization of new products.
Moreover, the clustering effect of technology parks encourages the formation of industry clusters, where companies operating in related sectors can collaborate, share best practices, and access a pool of skilled talent.
https://www.zawya.com/en/press-release/companies-news/coursera-celebrates-ai-appreciation-day-pdrcydqf
Learners in emerging markets, including India, Egypt, Pakistan, and Brazil, make up more than half (52%) of GenAI enrollments on Coursera as the learning platform is bridging the opportunity gap by expanding AI-powered translations to include more than 4,600 courses and 55 Professional Certificates in up to 21 popular languages, including Arabic, Hindi, and Spanish.
----------------------
HEC Pakistan success story | Coursera
https://www.coursera.org/enterprise/resources/casestudy/hec
Paving the way for Pakistan’s digital knowledge economy
Through a successful and transformative partnership with Coursera, HEC has ushered in a wave of impactful education, breaking barriers and shaping the educational landscape in Pakistan.
Access to quality education:
200+ universities gained access to Coursera’s library of courses, including COMSATS University Islamabad and University of Central Punjab.
Over 267,000+ courses completed with students logging over 1.4 million learning hours.
More than 45,000 learners achieved deep-skills specialized certifications from internationally recognized institutions, the most popular specializations being Communication, Data Analysis, and Leadership and Management.
Enhanced teaching through curriculum integration:
Faculty enhanced their curriculum by integrating Coursera content into projects and materials.
Students applied their newfound expertise, translating it into freelancing opportunities.
Profound learner satisfaction:
HEC conducted a learner survey which garnered 10,000 responses:
96% of respondents credited Coursera for enriching skills development, with steep trajectories in digital literacy.
99% expressed a desire to continue expanding their learning.
Over 60% received tangible career incentives, such as recognition or advancements, through Coursera courses.
“We’ve encountered our top Coursera learners leveraging their skills for success,” Tanveer continues. HEC’s survey encapsulates this notion, with 47% of freelancers saying Coursera courses helped to increase their earnings. “These individuals, based in Pakistan, capitalize on learned skills, securing freelancing opportunities and projects, earning in US dollars due to their global online presence.” Maqadas Manzoor, a learner who benefitted from HEC’s support, attests to Coursera’s positive influence on his freelance career. “Enrolling in Coursera has been a transformative experience for me. I enrolled in IBM’s full stack cloud computing course and got my certificate, which gained me valuable knowledge. I have since acquired projects from a cloud computing and web application services company.” This partnership between HEC and Coursera helped introduce flexible, specialized online education tailored to Pakistan’s needs, bringing world-class learning within reach across demographics. As Dr. Jamil, Member IT at HEC, attests, “Our initiative with Coursera ensures that Pakistani youth gain industry-ready skills affordably and at scale. The positive response from students indicates that we are on track to achieve HEC’s goals.” HEC credits Coursera for enabling it to deliver meaningful change on a national scale – one learner at a time.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1095301-pakistan-among-top-4-countries-in-stem-enrolment
Even though Pakistan’s global ranking is dismal, it has shown a 79 per cent year-on-year growth in enrolment, becoming the fourth country globally (out of 100) with the highest STEM enrolments. Enrolment count from Pakistan stands at 642,562 – behind Nigeria (675,371), the US (4,639,771) and India (6,000,967).
Speaking to The News, Deputy Chief of USAID Higher Education System Strengthening Activity Dr Ayesha Razzaque, discusses the reasons behind the shift towards distant learning among Pakistanis, “skills are the new currency in the job market. [In Pakistan], four-year curricula are neither updated frequently enough nor corresponding degrees/transcripts do a good job of communicating what the graduate is able to do.”
She adds that across the world, “there is a shift towards acquiring micro-credentials instead on top of an undergraduate degree. So, instead of enrolling in a long-term programme, one could enroll in a shorter certificate program and get only the necessary skills. Our universities will eventually need to catch up too.”
When asked what the government and the private sector can do to improve the situation, Mutaher says: “there are a couple of things the government at least seems to be doing. For example, the HEC has a partnership programme with Coursera, which is a great step. Similarly, it recently earmarked Rs2 billion in the budget for specialized IT trainings.”
https://zigron.com/2024/05/24/why-pakistan-is-your-next-technology-hub/
Pakistan – The Next Technology Hub
The world will need 80M software engineers by 2030 to keep up with the technological pace. There will be a shortage of estimated 30M technologists, and with the Russia/Ukraine war, this gap will only grow. With India up to its neck and talent gobbled up by more prominent companies; Pakistan is the only logical destination for technology resource hiring. Pakistan has universities, advanced infrastructure, government policies, and existing 300,000 talent growing rapidly by multitudes. With all these in place, Pakistan is today’s destination for finding tech talent. With Zigron’s past and current experience of serving startups to multi-billion dollar organizations; Zigron is here to bridge this gap for the companies facing a shortage of skilled tech workers today and in the future.
Why is Pakistan being termed Asia’s next Tech Hub?
Pakistan is the 3rd largest IT-enabled services exporter, with more than 40 percent software development. Pakistan is continuously creating high-tech industries and expanding its cyber security, system integration, data center, and IT outsourcing, i.e., AI, ML, IoT, Blockchain, Big Data Analytics, and Cloud Engineering. The biggest reason of all is that Pakistan is home to more than 144 universities; with some top-ranked world universities like NUST, GIKI, FAST, LUMS, UET, NED, etc., offering IT and Engineering degree programs that have so far produced over 300,000 IT professionals with expertise in AI/ML, Data Scientists, Full Stack, DB, DevOps, Designers, UI/UX, Embedded, Firmware Engineers, etc. In addition, they have been producing hardcore engineers like Electrical, CAD, Structural, Solar, Wind, Civil, Geotechnical, etc.
Pakistani universities are on the mission to make world-class talent and continue to do so with skills unmatched and dexterity unprecedented. Sky being the limit, skilled Pakistani talent is all you need to grow into a giant organization with technology expertise like AI, ML, IoT, Blockchain, Big Data Analytics, Cloud, etc. With all the efforts to further support and advance these industries; Govt is expecting 50 billion USD annual exports from the technology sector by 2030. With a lot to offer in the tech industry; Pakistani engineers are fully equipped to play their vital role in helping companies grow and succeed. Zigron also takes huge pride in being a pioneer in offering top-of-scale IT services and Engineering talent globally over the past 15 years and continues to enrich the IT world with its state-of-the-art solutions and services.
Pakistan’s IT exports are at an all-time high, with over a 30 percent growth in the last eight months.
Pakistan has made significant successes in IT exports and crossed a mark of 2 billion USD last year. Although numbers are good; there is still a significantly undiscovered IT talent that is yet to be unleashed and utilized to the full extent. Seeing the tech-minded youth, Prime Minister Imran Khan launched a ‘Digital Pakistan’ initiative; focusing on connectivity, digital infrastructure, digital skills, innovation, and entrepreneurship to further upskill the unexplored talent. The government of Pakistan has taken the forefront to uplift tech minds and help them grow by establishing a Special Technology Zones Authority (STZA) to develop a high-tech economy for rapid growth.
Every business in every sector needs to have a long-term strategy for developing digital skills.
This means focusing on diverse skills, offering training on different channels, and customizing the approach to suit different sectors.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/01/5-ways-develop-digital-skills-davos2023/
From World Economic Forum (WEF)
In the United States, one third of workers lack the digital skills needed to succeed in today's economy. While the digital skills shortage is slightly less acute in parts of Europe, the distribution of skills is hugely uneven across countries. Meanwhile in the Asia-Pacific region, there will be a five-fold increase the business need for digital skills by 2025.
By 2030, up to 85 million jobs will go unfilled globally, generating an $8.5 trillion gap between possible and realized annual revenues. To put it another way, technical limitations are no longer the main impediment to realizing the impact of many emergent, game-changing technologies. Rather, it is the constrained ability to grow the supply of skilled talent to meet the demands for these technologies.
By ProPK Staff | Published Oct 21, 2024 | 5:03 pm
https://propakistani.pk/2024/10/21/it-exports-up-by-42-in-september-2024/
The country’s information technology and IT-enabled services (ITeS) export remittances comprising computer services and call center services went up by 42 percent to $292 million during September 2024 compared to $206 million in the same period last year, latest data from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) revealed on Monday.
During September 24, technology exports went up 42 percent YoY but down 2 percent MoM, still contributing 44 percent of the overall services exports.
In the first quarter of fiscal year 2024-25, technology exports were up 34 percent at $876 million compared to $656 million in 1QFY24.
IT export remittances reached an all-time high of $3.223 billion in the fiscal year 2023-24 while registering 24 percent growth when compared to $2.596 billion in 2022-23.
Minister of State for IT and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja shared that YoY jump in IT exports is due to (i) IT export companies growing client base globally, especially in GCC region, (ii) relaxation in the permissible retention limit by the State Bank of Pakistan, increasing it from 35 percent to 50 percent in the Exporters’ Specialized Foreign Currency Accounts, and (iii) stability in PKR encouraging IT exporters to bring higher portion of profits back to Pakistan.
According to the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) survey 62 percent of IT companies are maintaining specialized foreign currency accounts.
A major development in July 2024 was SBP adding a new category of Equity Investment Abroad (EIA), specifically for export-oriented IT companies. IT exporters can now acquire interest (shareholding) in entities abroad utilizing up to 50 percent of proceeds from specialized foreign currency accounts. This development will further boost the confidence of IT exporters to remit proceeds back to Pakistan.
----------
Arif Habib Limited
@ArifHabibLtd
Technology exports went up by 42% YoY during Sep’24 to USD 292mn
During Sep’24, technology exports went up 42% YoY | -2% MoM to USD 292mn contributing 44% to the overall services.
https://x.com/ArifHabibLtd/status/1848325449233166624