ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the disparate outcomes of skilled migration policy in the United States (US) involving different economic sectors. The human capital requirements for skilled migration thus do not constrain the provision of skilled migrants and appropriate intermediaries have responded to market opportunities in both information technology and health services. The chapter explores the empirical puzzle by presenting evidence of labor shortages for various types of skilled workers that generated different policy responses. It reviews proposed theories of migration politics and extends these theories to include a spatial component, a detailed specification of interests, a time component, and an institutional element. The chapter also examines skilled migration in light of these interests and generates a research hypothesis. It discusses this theoretical framework to the high technology industry in the United States in the late 1990s. The chapter also discusses the framework to the nursing profession in the United States during the same time frame.
