The Labor Department’s August jobs report showed that the number of immigrant workers in the U.S. has gone down over the past year, while job growth among U.S.-born workers has gone up.
According to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data for August, the number of employed foreign-born workers — which includes both legal and illegal immigrants — dropped by 822,000 compared to last August. During the same time, the number of employed U.S.-born workers increased by 2.76 million.
The unemployment rates for both groups haven’t changed much over the year. Among foreign-born workers, the unemployment rate rose slightly from 4.3% to 4.4%. For U.S.-born workers, it went up from 4.4% to 4.6%.
Industries like construction face a tighter labor supply because of the crackdown on illegal immigration.
Manhattan Institute fellow Daniel Di Martino told FOX Business that part of the trend is due to the U.S. economy slowing down because of uncertainty from tariffs and the end of the economic expansion. He also said the drop in illegal immigration plays a role.
“The labor force is probably going to shrink because the native-born labor force is aging,” Di Martino said. “The fact that the border has been closed for several months means fewer people are entering the labor force. That’s good in the sense that we don’t want illegal immigration to grow the labor force. But it does mean there will be fewer workers in industries that rely on illegal immigrants, like construction, delivery services, restaurants, and similar services.”
Di Martino also mentioned reports showing the foreign-born population in the U.S. fell by more than a million people over the last year, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data. This is the first decline since the 1960s.
“I think there is a chance this is exaggerated,” he said. “There hasn’t been any net illegal inflow since January, according to border data, and there is always some outflow. Part of this may be due to reduced survey responses from illegal immigrants.”
David Bier, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, told FOX Business, “There has been some talk about increases in employment among the native-born population since January, but that’s misleading because of how the surveys are designed.
“Every year, the Census Bureau estimates the population of the U.S. based on births, deaths, and immigration. They use this to weight the surveys. So if immigration drops or the number of immigrants is lower than expected, it can make it look like more U.S.-born people are employed. That’s why these numbers can be misleading.
“There’s no real evidence that employment has improved for U.S.-born workers over the past year. If you look at the unemployment rate, which the survey is designed to estimate, it has actually gone up.”
