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Title: Immigration, Unemployment and Labor Force Participation in the United States

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2018

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Abstract: Critics of immigration often allege that immigration worsens US-born workers’ labor market outcomes, such as their employment and earnings. A large body of economic research has examined how immigration has affected natives’ wages. Most of these studies have concluded that immigration has little or no adverse effect on US natives’ wages. However, few studies have examined other key dimensions of US natives’ success in the labor market: unemployment and labor force participation. Understanding how immigration affects unemployment and labor force participation among US natives is important for several reasons. The foreign-born share of the population is the highest in a century, and immigrants account for 1 in 6 workers. Although unemployment is currently near a record low, it soared during the Great Recession of 2007-2009 and was slow to return to pre-recession levels. Labor force participation, meanwhile, has been declining for years, a trend that accelerated with the recession and has yet to reverse. Unemployment and labor force participation are markedly worse among disadvantaged groups, such as less-educated workers, that may compete the most intensively with immigrants in the United States.

Url: https://nfap.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMMIGRANTS-AND-JOBS.NFAP-Policy-Brief.May-2018-1.pdf

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Authors: Zavodny, Madeline

Publisher: National Foundation for American Policy

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Migration and Immigration

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