Over 40 million Americans of working age are out of the job market, according to new analysis, with foreign-born workers accounting for all net job growth over the last year.
The shocking analysis of labor-force trends comes from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), which looked at data trends from 1960 to 2024.
As of April this year, 43 million Americans aged 16 to 64 were not working. That’s an increase of 8.5 million on the figure in 2000.
The share of American men not in the workforce has increased from 11% in 1960 to 22% this year.
Figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that, although there are 1.1 million fewer Americans in the workforce since last year, close to half a million foreign-born workers have gained jobs.
There are now over 14 million more foreign men in the US workforce than in 1960.
“Relying on immigrant workers has allowed our country to ignore the decades-long decline in labor force participation,” CIS Director of Research Steven Camarota said.
“Reducing immigration would cause wages to rise, incentivizing work and compelling policymakers to undertake much-needed reforms in welfare and disability programs.”