Foreign-born employment remains near last month’s high

The number of foreign-born workers declined slightly in September from a month ago, though employment among foreign-born workers remains near the highest level in over a decade.

The Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its jobs report for September on Friday, which showed that the number of foreign-born workers was 31,414,000 in September, a decrease of about 222,000 from last month. The figure of 31,636,000 foreign-born workers employed in August was the highest level since at least 2007.

Compared to a year ago, foreign-born employment rose about 1.2 million jobs from 30,213,000 in September 2023, per BLS data. That continues an upward trend that dates back to at least 2010, having been interrupted by the COVID pandemic.

Native-born employment was up in September by about 920,000 jobs compared to August, coming in at 130,632,000 in September — though that’s down about 825,000 jobs from September 2023. Employment among U.S.-born workers had reached the highest level since at least 2007 a little more than a year ago when it reached 132,254,000 in July 2023.

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The BLS figures do not differentiate between foreign-born workers who entered the country with authorization, such as green card holders, and those with working visas, as opposed to those who entered the country without authorization.

At a press conference last month, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell was asked about the level of job creation in the economy and how the unemployment rate is influenced by the number of workers, including immigrants, in the labor market.

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“On the job creation… it depends on the inflows,” Powell said. “So if you’re having millions of people come into the labor force, and you’re creating 100,000 jobs, you’re going to see unemployment go up. So it really depends on what’s the trend underlying the volatility of people coming into the country.”

“We understand there’s been quite an influx across the borders, and that has actually been one of the things that’s allowed the unemployment [rate] to rise. And the other thing is just the slower hiring rate, which is something we also watch carefully. So it does depend on what’s happening on the supply side,” he explained.

Data from the Congressional Budget Office found that there has been a net gain of more than 9 million immigrants since the end of 2020. 

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That figure includes 2.6 million lawful permanent residents who are green card holders or otherwise came to the U.S. legally via family or employment-based visas, as well as 6.5 million who are classified as “other foreign nationals” — which comprises those who entered the country without authorization.

FOX Business’ Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.