OPT Reforms and the Relative Supply of STEM Skills

Since the late 2000s, reforms to the optional practical training (OPT) program have allowed international STEM graduates to work in the United States for up to three years after graduation. We study how these reforms affected the supply of STEM skills in the United States. Exploiting the staggered 2008, 2011, 2012, and 2016 STEM-OPT expansions, we find that OPT reforms increased STEM degree completions by 14–15 percent, with gains evident at the bachelor’s and master’s levels. Domestic completions increased as well, suggesting that OPT expansions may have crowded in domestic STEM students rather than crowding them out.