Washington, D.C. (February 13, 2024) - A new analysis of government data by the Center for Immigration Studies shows that in the fourth quarter of 2023 there were 2.7 million more workers — 2.9 million more immigrants (legal and illegal) and 183,000 fewer U.S.-born Americans — than in the fourth quarter of 2019, pre-covid. Employment for both groups has rebounded since the lows of 2020, but it has not fully recovered for the U.S.-born, while immigrant employment (foreign-born) has exploded.
 
Less-educated U.S.-born men struggle the most. The labor force participation — the share working or looking for work – of U.S.-born men (18 to 64) without a bachelor’s has not returned to pre-covid levels.  They do not show up as unemployed because they are not actively looking for work. There has been a decades-long decline in the labor force participation of these less-educated U.S.-born men, which is linked to profound social problems such as crime, overdose deaths and suicide.
 
“We keep hearing how the job market is booming, yet the number of U.S.-born Americans working has still not returned to the 2019 pre-Covid level.  Moreover, labor force participation among non-college educated U.S.-born men has not even returned to the 2019 level, which itself was very low by historical standards,” said the Center’s Director of Research and the report’s coauthor, Steven Camarota.
 
Among the findings:

• While the number working has continually rebounded from the Covid recession, there were still 183,000 fewer U.S.-born Americans working in the fourth quarter of 2023 than in the fourth quarter of 2019, compared to a 2.9 million increase in immigrants (legal and illegal) working. 
• The unemployment rate in the fourth quarter of 2023 was less than 4 percent for both immigrants and the U.S.-born.   However, the unemployed do not include those out of the labor force — neither working nor looking for work.
• Immigration has added significantly to the number of workers without a bachelor’s degree.  Of the 2.9 million increase in immigrant workers, 1.7 million or 60 percent are adults 18 and older without a bachelor’s.
• At 75.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023, the labor force participation rate of U.S.-born men without a bachelor’s (18 to 64) has still not returned to the 76.3 percent it was in the fourth quarter of 2019, which was lower than the 80.5 percent in 2006 and the 82.6 percent in 2000.
• Compared to the 1960s, when more than 90 percent of adult less-educated U.S.-born men were in the labor force, the rate today is dramatically lower.
• At 66.4 percent, the labor force participation rate of U.S.-born women (18 to 64) without a bachelor’s in the fourth quarter of 2023 has returned to the 2019 level but is still well below the peak of 70.7 percent in 2000. 
• The share of immigrant men (18 to 64) in the fourth quarter of 2023 without a bachelor’s degree in the labor force at 85.5 percent is higher than U.S.-born men, but it is still below the 86.4 percent in 2019. 
• There were a total of 43.5 million U.S.-born men and women (16 to 64) of all education levels not in the labor force in the fourth quarter of 2023 -- 8.6 million more than in 2000.  More than two-thirds of the U.S.-born not in the labor force are adults 18 to 64 without a bachelor’s degree
• In addition to the working-age, the labor force participation of those ages 65 to 74 increased steadily until 2019. But it fell significantly during the pandemic and at 26.5 percent for the U.S.-born and 30.9 percent for immigrants in the fourth quarter of 2023 it has not returned to the pre-Covid 2019 level for either group by the fourth quarter of 2023.