Foreign-Born Employment in U.S. Dips Slightly from Record, Still At 25,460,000

Feb. 9, 2016, Miami Fl.
AP Photo/Alan Diaz

The number of foreign-born people employed in the United States dipped slightly last month compared to the record high set in March, but remained above 25 million mark, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The BLS reports that 25,460,000 foreign-born people had a job in the U.S. during the month of April, a decrease of 281,000 compared to the month of March when a record 25,741,000 foreign-born people were employed in the U.S.

The BLS does not distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants, defining the foreign-born as:

Those residing in the United States who were not U.S. citizens at birth. That is, they were born outside the United States or one of its outlying areas such as Puerto Rico or Guam, to parents neither of whom was a U.S. citizen. The native born are persons who were born in the United States or one of its outlying areas such as Puerto Rico or Guam or who were born abroad of at least one parent who was a U.S. citizen.

The not-seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate among the foreign born was 4.3 percent.

The number of native-born Americans employed, according to the not-seasonally-adjusted data, experienced substantial growth from March to April, reaching 125,615,000, an increase of 618,000. The native-born unemployment rate was 4.8 percent.

Both the foreign-born and native-born populations in the U.S. have experienced job growth since President Obama’s inauguration in January of 2009, however when considered against population growth, foreign-born people have fared better than their native-born counterparts.

Since Obama took office the working-age, foreign born population has increase by 5.79 million and the working-age, native-born population has increased by more than 12.41 million. In that same period of time foreign-born people gained 4.08 million jobs while native-born people gained 6.55 million jobs.

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