{"id":2964,"date":"2026-04-03T15:30:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T15:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanvoiceofhealth.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/03\/new-study-links-more-immigrants-with-lower-elderly-mortality\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T15:30:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T15:30:31","slug":"new-study-links-more-immigrants-with-lower-elderly-mortality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanvoiceofhealth.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/03\/new-study-links-more-immigrants-with-lower-elderly-mortality\/","title":{"rendered":"New study links more immigrants with lower elderly mortality"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\tHealth\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\tNew study links more immigrants with lower elderly mortality\t<\/h1>\n

\n\t\t\tResearchers say among newcomers are medical, long-term care workers who are arriving amid critical U.S. shortage\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\tAlvin Powell\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHarvard Staff Writer\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/address>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\n\t\t\t5 min read\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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David Grabowski.<\/p>\n

Veasey Conway\/Harvard Staff Photographer<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/header>\n

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New research <\/a>finds the addition of a thousand new immigrants in a metropolitan area reduces elderly mortality by about 10 deaths than would be typical.<\/p>\n

Why? Because among the newcomers are foreign-born healthcare workers who are arriving amid a critical nationwide shortage, according to the study\u2019s authors, who hail from Harvard Medical School<\/a>, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology<\/a>, and the University of Rochester<\/a>.<\/p>\n

David Grabowski<\/a>, HMS professor of healthcare policy and a study author, said more immigration brings more physicians, nurses, and aides, but especially long-term care workers, both for private homes and nursing facilities.<\/p>\n

The study indicates that adding 1,000 immigrants to what\u2019s called a \u201cmetropolitan statistical area\u201d \u2014 a city plus surrounding towns \u2014 means an additional 142 foreign-born healthcare workers of all kinds.<\/p>\n

The study also indicates that foreign-born workers don\u2019t displace those born here but add to a healthcare workforce that remains in short supply.<\/p>\n

One sign of that, Grabowski said, is that increased immigration leads to a net increase in the long-term care workforce rather than competition for a static number of openings.<\/p>\n

Plus, he said, the expanded pool of available workers does not depress wages as might be expected if many were vying for a limited number of jobs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis result is very supportive of the value that foreign-born workers add to the health of our population,\u201d Grabowski said. \u201cWhen you have an increase in immigration, you end up with more long-term care workers. It\u2019s additive, not substitutive. It doesn\u2019t crowd out anyone\u2019s jobs, and it doesn\u2019t appear to lower wages at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

The research, published as a National Bureau of Economic Research<\/a> working paper<\/a> in February, follows on earlier work by Grabowski that has its roots in the pandemic, a time when the importance of the long-term care workforce became apparent.<\/p>\n

That research, Grabowski said, explored the makeup of that workforce and highlighted the importance of immigrants in a field that requires some skill but offers relatively low pay.<\/p>\n

The current paper, which received support from the National Institute on Aging, highlighted the already crucial role of immigrants in the U.S. healthcare system.<\/p>\n

About 18 percent of all healthcare workers are immigrants, the authors wrote, while roughly one in five nursing-home workers are immigrants and one in three home-care workers are immigrants.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s shortages across the board, and I think there are opportunities for immigrants to contribute in all of these areas,\u201d Grabowski said.<\/p>\n

Prior research indicates that, as immigration increases, institutionalization of older adults falls, likely because more home-care workers become available.<\/p>\n

The ability to age at home, Grabowski said, is a factor in the decline in mortality revealed in the current paper.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because older adults tend to do better aging in a familiar environment, close to family and friends. More healthcare workers not only improve access to care but also quality of care, both at home and in nursing homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an argument that bad things happen oftentimes to older adults in nursing homes. When you\u2019re in those congregate settings, you\u2019re more likely to have an infection, more likely to have weight loss or hospitalizations,\u201d Grabowski said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re in the home your mental health is better. It\u2019s where everybody wants to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the paper\u2019s release comes at a time of heightened tension around immigration and America\u2019s immigrant workforce, Grabowski said work on it began several years ago.<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t mean, however, that the research doesn\u2019t have implications for current immigration policy, Grabowski said.<\/p>\n

The paper indicates that a 25 percent increase in the flow of immigrants nationally would reduce elderly mortality by about 5,000.<\/p>\n

However, if the political priority is to limit overall immigration, then it makes sense to consider special visas for foreign-born healthcare workers or those willing to enter the healthcare workforce, Grabowski said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not really thinking of this as a current policy issue, but as a broader issue around how can nursing homes and home-care agencies solve this workforce shortage that became particularly acute during the pandemic,\u201d Grabowski said. \u201cImmigration could be one piece of a broader set of policies, including wages, benefits, and making this a better job.\u201d<\/p>\n

The nation\u2019s demographic trends suggest that the worker shortage is only going to get worse, Grabowski said, with fewer younger workers providing care for more older adults.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look at the demographics, it\u2019s really alarming in terms of the number of older adults we\u2019ll have relative to the number of middle-aged individuals,\u201d Grabowski said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to need help caring for all these older adults. I think technology can help a little at the margins, but it\u2019s not going to replace the workers. Either we draw more native-born workers into this sector or we greatly increase our efforts to attract foreign-born individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Health New study links more immigrants with lower elderly mortality Researchers say among newcomers are medical, long-term care workers who are arriving amid critical U.S. shortage Alvin Powell Harvard Staff Writer March 20, 2026 5 min read David Grabowski. Veasey Conway\/Harvard Staff Photographer New research finds the addition of a thousand new immigrants in a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2965,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"loftocean_post_primary_category":0,"loftocean_post_format_gallery":"","loftocean_post_format_gallery_ids":"","loftocean_post_format_gallery_urls":"","loftocean_post_format_video_id":0,"loftocean_post_format_video_url":"","loftocean_post_format_video_type":"","loftocean_post_format_video":"","loftocean_post_format_audio_type":"","loftocean_post_format_audio_url":"","loftocean_post_format_audio_id":0,"loftocean_post_format_audio":"","loftocean-featured-post":"","loftocean-like-count":0,"loftocean-view-count":15,"tinysalt_single_post_intro_label":"","tinysalt_single_post_intro_description":"","tinysalt_hide_post_featured_image":"","tinysalt_post_featured_media_position":"","tinysalt_single_site_header_source":"","tinysalt_single_custom_site_header":"0","tinysalt_single_custom_sticky_site_header":"0","tinysalt_single_custom_sticky_site_header_style":"sticky-scroll-up","tinysalt_single_site_footer_source":"","tinysalt_single_custom_site_footer":"0","footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-staying-healthy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanvoiceofhealth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanvoiceofhealth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanvoiceofhealth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanvoiceofhealth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanvoiceofhealth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/americanvoiceofhealth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanvoiceofhealth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanvoiceofhealth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanvoiceofhealth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanvoiceofhealth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}