Anti-immigrant groups who have chanted
“Foreigners are Taking Our Jobs!” might have
a harder time statistically defending their battle cry in
light of new research from the Pew Hispanic Center.
“Rapid increases in the foreign-born population at
the state level are not associated with negative effects
on the employment of native-born workers,” the study
contends.
In an analysis of economic patterns during the boom of the
1990s and in the post-recession era after 2000, the nonpartisan
research organization sought to find a relationship between
increases in immigrant populations and the employment status
of native-born employees in all 50 states and in Washington,
D.C.
“We did the study because analyses of the relationship
between the inflow of foreign-born workers and employment
outcomes for native-born workers are relatively obscure.
Our hope was to contribute systematic, up-to-date and readily
accessible information on this issue at a time when immigration
is an important issue before policymakers,” says Rakesh
Kochhar, who conducted the study.
The study examined the growth of the foreign-born population
against three statistical measures for native-born workers—the
employment rate, labor force participation rate and unemployment
rate. The results revealed that a quarter of native-born
workers lived in states where a quick increase in foreign-born
population was linked to a positive outcome for them between
1990-2000. Sixty percent of native workers lived in states
where growth of the foreign population was below average
and where they did not experience positive outcomes. Only
15 percent of native workers lived in states in which increases
in the foreign-born workforce were associated with negative
outcomes. The findings were similar in the analysis for
the years between 2000 and 2004.
The Pew Hispanic Center is a nonpartisan research organization
established in 2001 to improve understanding of the U.S.
Hispanic population and to chronicle Latinos’ growing
impact on the nation.
TOPLINE
FINDINGS
Native-born workers in Illinois, Michigan and Virginia
might have benefited from the slow growth of foreign-born
populations.
In Texas, Nevada and Georgia, rapid increase in immigration
appears to have not harmed native-born workers.
Immigration might have had a negative impact on native-born
workers in North Carolina, Tennessee and Arizona.
In California, New York, New Jersey and Florida, however,
the slow rate of growth of immigrant workers might
not have benefited the 38 percent of native-born workers
who reside in those states.
THE
MAKEUP OF THE
FOREIGN WORKFORCE
Many workers do not have a college education and most
are relatively young. In 2000, the workforce started
at 16 years old and consisted of 28 million workers.
From 1990 to 2000, the foreign-born workforce grew
61 percent.
The study found no evidence that the foreign-born
workers had an impact on the employment outcomes of
native-born workers between the ages of 25 and 34
who have low levels of education.
WHERE
ARE
THEY WORKING?
The fastest growth was in North Carolina, where the
foreign-born workforce grew 278 percent between 1990-2000.
Nevada and Georgia grew more than 200 percent.
Between 1990-2000, 18 states had foreign-born workforce
populations that grew by at least 100 percent. The
largest increases occurred in states that had small
immigrant populations before 1990.
The smallest growth, less than 1 percent, was in Maine.
