SEATTLE - For centuries, contributions from immigrants have shaped the United States into the economic powerhouse it is today. In the 19th century, most migrants came from Europe, looking for better job opportunities and for a fresh start, a strategy quickly followed by millions of people from all corners of the world.
Fast forward to the 21st Century, more than 46.1 million immigrants are currently living in the U.S., according to data from the Pew Research Center. Being a massive part of the country's overall population, immigrants have quickly become a key part of the U.S.'s workforce, and a recent study reveals that new immigrants are landing jobs at faster rates than US-born Americans, concretely in industries with a high number of job openings.
According to a study conducted by David J. Bier and published by the Cato Institute, immigrants are slightly more likely to be employed and more likely to actively look for a job than people born in the United States.
As of March 2024, the study says that nearly half of the 7.6 million immigrants who entered the country since January 2020 were already employed by that timeframe. Considering that for most new immigrants working in the U.S. is illegal, that demographic accounted for 78% of all employment growth from 2019 to 2024.
But one of the most interesting findings within the study was how immigrants are making positive impacts in the job market. According to the study, immigrants are moving to states where jobs are being created. In consequence, immigrant job growth is moving up alongside increased employment for Americans.
The author argues that despite common beliefs that immigrants are "displacing US workers," it is more likely that fewer US-born workers are entering the labor force. They also work in different fields from those born in the U.S.
Jobs with high numbers of openings such as in the food service industry, construction and transportation have been some of the preferred fields for new immigrants.
According to the Cato Institute data, the occupations that saw a bigger increase in its immigrant workforce post-2020 were production, management and maintenance, with an increase of 511%, 358% and 334%, respectively.
New immigrants are more likely to take on jobs within the food service industry, construction and transportation, while they are less likely to seek for occupations such as community service and healthcare.
As Donald Trump continues with his anti-immigration rhetoric, the study shows that the United States would suffer tremendously if immigration were to be restricted of if there was an effort from the new administration to remove the immigrants already living in the U.S.
Data reveals that the country is about 35 million workers short of what the Social Security Administration says it will need to fund its liabilities in the 2030s. In order to return to the work force levels seen in the 1980s, the U.S. would need a net increase of 50 million more workers, but according to data from last decade, that increase was just 7 million, with most of them being immigrants.
Calculations from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) also supports this claim. By increasing the immigrant population, the U.S. gross domestic product would increase by a cumulative $8.9 trillion over the 2024-2034 period, the study says.
Although the CBO's calculations only estimated the economic impact of those entering the country without a visa, the inclusion of all new immigrants would see an even greater effect on the U.S. economy.
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