New evidence on international postdocs in the US: Less pay, different experiences

Abstract

Post-doctoral scholars play a critical role in the innovation workforce and contribute to most scientific publications by US institutions. More than half of US postdoctoral scholars are temporary residents; of these, most earned PhDs abroad. We describe the experiences of international postdocs and find that salaries and many other dimensions of postdoc experiences are different for temporary residents, particularly those trained abroad, while on some dimensions - career guidance, recognition for their work, and work hours - their experiences are similar to those of US citizens and permanent residents. Productivity does not explain the different experiences; temporary residents have higher research productivity. Better matches with supervisors somewhat attenuate these differences, as does speaking English as a first language. However, even controlling for the quality of the match, language and productivity, foreign-educated temporary residents in particular have different experiences along several dimensions: salary and some benefits, involvement in grants and teaching, supervisor mentoring and collaboration outside the lab). Experiences are associated with postdocs' overall assessments of their positions and with changing their intentions to leave or remain in the US.