More On Our Broken Immigration System: We Need Immigrants In The Workforce, Not On The Streets
Less than half of immigrants who have arrived since 2022 are working, says a new report
By Peter List, Editor | May 15, 2024
Though political points of view may differ, economically speaking, the United States needs immigrants. With record-low birth rates, millions of baby boomers reaching retirement age in 2024, and 8.5 million job openings across the United States, without immigrants in the workforce, America’s economy would collapse.
However, a new report by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) suggests that the recent flood of immigrants into the U.S. may not be as beneficial to the economy as one might hope.
According to the CIS report, as of March 2024, there were 51.6 million foreign-born immigrants (legal and illegal) in the United States, or 15.6 percent of the total U.S. population.
In fact, according to the report, since March 2022 the foreign-born population has increased 5.1 million, the largest two-year increase in American history.
“Since President Biden took office in January 2021 the foreign-born population has increased by 6.6 million in just 39 months,” the report’s authors state.
Of those who have entered the U.S. since President Biden took office, the authors estimate that nearly 58 percent of the increase is due to illegal immigration.
A significant finding from the CIS report, however, is that the majority of immigrants who have arrived in the U.S. since 2022 are not employed, painting a stark picture of the employment situation of recent immigrants.
While the United States, with its tight labor markets, desperately needs workers, more than 50 percent of the immigrants who have arrived over the past two years are not working and, as a result, draining taxpayer-funded resources.
“Many observers think of immigrants solely as workers, but only 46 percent of the foreign-born who arrived in 2022 or later were employed in the first part of 2024 — similar to the share of new arrivals employed during previous economic expansions,” the CIS authors note.
“Many new immigrants are children, elderly, disabled, caregivers, or others with no ability or interest in working,” CIS’ authors state. “Immigration clearly adds workers to the country, but it just as clearly adds non-workers who need to be supported by the labor of others.”
While anyone who uses social media has likely viewed clips of immigrants illegally crossing into the United States, the fact is, the U.S. does need workers to replace those retiring and to make up for the declining birth rates.
However, a broken immigration system that allows for immigrants to enter a debt-ridden country without contributing to its economic well-being is not fair to taxpayers, nor conducive to long-term economic stability.
Read the Center for Immigration Studies’ report here.