Jobs report is a boom for migrants, slump for Americans

The new August jobs report shows employment numbers of U.S.-born workers and foreign-born workers going on two very different trajectories. 

Data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, an arm of the Department of Labor, shows native-born Americans lost more than 1.3 million jobs over the last 12 months, while foreign-born workers gained more than 1.2 million jobs. 

The news comes as U.S. job growth picked up in August but missed economists’ expectations, while the unemployment rate changed little.

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As of August of this year, there are 129,712,000 native-born workers compared to 131,031,000 in August 2023, meaning a plummeting reduction of 1,319,000 jobs.

In comparison, there were 31,636,000 foreign-born workers in the U.S. as of last month, compared to 30,396,000 in August 2023, a surge of 1,240,000 jobs.

The figures do not differentiate between foreign-born workers who entered the country with authorization, i.e. Green Card holders and those with working visas, and those who entered without prior authorization. 

The U.S. has witnessed a surge of immigrants under the Biden-Harris administration, with figures from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) showing a net gain of more than 9 million immigrants since the end of 2020.

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About 2.6 million of those immigrants are lawful “permanent residents,” which includes green-card holders and other immigrants who came through legal channels such as family or employment-based visas. The remaining 6.5 million foreign nationals, referred to as “other foreign nationals,” are made up of those who crossed the southern border without prior authorization.

The U.S. Department of Labor on Friday reported that employers added 142,000 jobs in August, compared to the 160,000 gain that was projected by LSEG economists.

The unemployment rate also dipped slightly to 4.2%, in line with expectations, after it had unexpectedly risen to 4.3% in July, which was the highest level for the jobless rate since October 2021.

The number of jobs added in the prior two months were both revised downward, with job creation in June revised down by 61,000 from a gain of 179,000 to 118,000, while July was revised down by 25,000 from 114,000 to 89,000. With the revision, July’s job creation was the lowest nonfarm payrolls reading since December 2020.

The construction sector saw employment rise by 34,000 in August — above the average monthly gain of 19,000 over the last 12 months. Health care employment increased by 31,000 jobs, below the 12-month average of 60,000.

Multiple jobholders increased by 65,000 to 8,538,000, and the number of part-time workers increased by 527,000, while full-time workers decreased by 438,000.

FOX Business’ Eric Revell contributed to this report.