Federal records: NCES IPEDS Completions, 2015–2022
The industries the country cannot offshore
An ore body is where it is. So is a well, an airframe line, a cell plant and a reactor. The work has to be done here, by people who are here. This page asks who the United States is training to do it.
Each share below is the non-resident share of the research doctorates awarded in that field. The national figure across all fields is 27.0%. All 6 of them run above it.
All 6, side by side
| Industry | Non-resident share | Doctorates | Institutions | Federal access regime | CIP codes used |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Petroleum | 85.3% | 943 | 16 | — | 14.2501 |
| Artificial intelligence | 63.3% | 8,891 | 122 | — | 11.0102, 11.0701, 30.7001 |
| Mining and metals | 56.4% | 303 | 8 | — | 14.2101, 14.2001 |
| Battery technology | 51.6% | 6,738 | 113 | — proxy | 14.1801, 40.1001 |
| Aerospace | 42.6% | 2,911 | 49 | Export control | 14.0201 |
| Nuclear | 32.8% | 1,318 | 28 | Access authorisation | 14.2301 |
Pooled over 2015–2022. Each industry page lists the programmes behind its number and the institutions that award them.
Who runs it, once it is built
These 6 fields are measured by who gets the doctorate. The grid itself is not. Electrician and lineworker credentials go almost entirely to Americans, so the question there is not who but how many.
A note on federal access rules
Some of this work carries federal access restrictions, and they are often described loosely. Export control under ITAR turns on “U.S. person” status, which includes lawful permanent residents. Unescorted access at a commercial reactor is a background check. Neither is a security clearance, and only a DOE L or Q authorisation requires citizenship.
It makes less difference than it sounds. These rules govern particular work, not a field of study, and they have not stopped the shares on this page from rising. They are recorded here for accuracy and are not the argument.
| Industry | Regime | What it says |
|---|---|---|
| Petroleum | None by default | No export-control or access-authorisation regime applies by default. Open to anyone with the right to work in the United States. |
| Artificial intelligence | None by default | No export-control or access-authorisation regime applies to the field as such. Specific defence and intelligence work carries its own rules. Some frontier model weights and semiconductor design tools are export-controlled. A computer science doctorate is not. |
| Mining and metals | None by default | No export-control or access-authorisation regime applies by default. Some critical-minerals work carries federal funding conditions, which are grant terms and not a personnel restriction. |
| Battery technology | None by default | No export-control or access-authorisation regime applies by default, though specific DOE-funded programmes may attach their own conditions. |
| Aerospace | Export control | Much of this work is export-controlled. ITAR (22 CFR 120-130) limits access to defence articles and technical data to a 'U.S. person' as defined at 22 CFR 120.62: a citizen, a lawful permanent resident, or a protected individual. This is not a security clearance and it does not require citizenship: a permanent resident qualifies. Someone on a temporary visa is outside that definition, and a licence or agreement is then needed to give them access. That temporary-visa population is exactly who IPEDS counts as a non-resident alien. |
| Nuclear | Access authorisation | Two different regimes, often confused. Unescorted access to a commercial reactor requires NRC access authorisation under 10 CFR 73.56 — a background investigation and fitness-for-duty determination, not a security clearance, and not restricted by citizenship on its face. DOE work on weapons-adjacent programmes requires an L or Q access authorisation under 10 CFR 710, which IS a clearance and does require US citizenship. Most civil nuclear engineering falls under the first, not the second. |
Method and limits
A CIP code is a field of study. It is not an industry, and nobody in this data is observed working anywhere. The mapping from field to industry is this site’s, and every page shows the codes it used so the mapping can be argued with.
- A CIP code is a field of study. Nobody in this data is observed working in the industry it is matched to.
- The battery entry is a proxy built from materials programmes, because IPEDS publishes no battery category.
- Shares are of degrees awarded, not of the current workforce. A doctorate awarded in 2016 may have left the country or the field.
- 'Non-resident alien' is the IPEDS reporting category: a student on a temporary visa. Permanent residents are counted as domestic.
- The restriction note states the law as written. It is not an observed hiring outcome. This data cannot show who was employed, under what authorisation, or whether they stayed.
- Export control, access authorisation and a security clearance are three different things. Only a DOE L or Q access authorisation requires US citizenship.
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NCES IPEDS Completions, research doctorates, 2015-2022.