Immigrants are rescuing a worker-starved U.S. economy

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Axios:

As the U.S. continues to struggle with a historically-tight labor market, immigrants are coming to the rescue of desperate employers — while also creating new jobs themselves.

By the numbers: Between the pre-pandemic month of January 2020 and July 2023, the immigrant labor force grew by 9.5%. That compares to a tiny 1.5% growth rate among the native-born.

Immigration: The rate at which the U.S. is giving out visas — both temporary work visas and permanent green cards — has risen by about 335,000 workers per year over the past 12 months, to a level near record highs. That's partly because the government has successfully begun to clear the backlog of more than 500,000 visa applications that built up over the course of the pandemic.

Participation: More of those immigrants are working. The foreign-born labor force participation rate has jumped by 2.3 percentage points to 67% over the past two years. By contrast, the native-born rate has risen by a meagre 0.4 points, to 62.2%.

Demographics: The great retirement of the Boomer generation is taking place mainly among the native-born — most immigrant workers aren't yet facing retirement. As a result, millions of new native-born workers need to enter the workforce every year just to keep the total native-born labor force constant, let alone growing.

https://www.axios.com/2023/08/29/us-economy-immigration-labor


...between July 2020 and July 2021, the first full year of the pandemic, U.S. population growth fell to a historic low of 0.16%.

Even as the American economy has slowed, labor shortages still abound in sectors like hospitality, lodging and social assistance. As hundreds of thousands of refugees, notably from Ukraine, have come into the country in the last two years, they’ve filled openings at restaurants, hotels, retail stores and nursing homes. Others with university degrees and stronger English have found better-paying jobs, in accounting, nursing and other fields.

It’s good for business, too. Companies that hire refugees have found them to be loyal, and consumers tend to look favorably upon products and brands that make a positive impact on refugees, according to a survey by New York University and the Tent Partnership for Refugees.

The world’s largest economies, including Germany, Japan and South Korea, are vying to attract more immigrant workers. They have good reason: As people age and die, they aren’t being replaced due to declining birthrates. That means a shrinking labor force, which means fewer hands and minds to produce, pay taxes and support the bulging numbers of retirees.

The U.S., by comparison, has for many years enjoyed stronger population and labor force growth compared to most other advanced economies, in large part due to steady inflows of international migrants, most of whom come to work and tend to be younger. But between July 2020 and July 2021, the first full year of the pandemic, U.S. population growth fell to a historic low of 0.16%.

Stronger immigration since then led to faster growth in the nation’s population, or 0.38% between 2021 and 2022. “It’s a welcome uptick,” said demographer William Frey of the Brookings Institution, but that may not be enough.

https://www.latimes.com/politics/newsletter/2023-07-07/what-immigration-means-for-u-s-population-and-economic-growth-essential-politics

Immigration-Driven Labor Supply Sustains Job Growth as Labor Market Cools
https://www.fitchratings.com/research/us-public-finance/immigration-driven-labor-supply-sustains-job-growth-as-labor-market-cools-2024-job-losses-expected-08-09-2023

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1. K & R n/t

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2. Excellent post, however...

Despite these irrefutable facts, Republicans will continue to stoke the flames of xenophobia, as emotional wedge issues are their only hope for winning elections, since they can’t run on a record of good governance.

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3. and the media will continue to allow a minority of idiots to control the national debate

...and we need to push forward with correct representations of the impact of migration on the U.S..

At any rate, won't have a rational debate beginning with the premise that migrating people hurt the nation, or will do so in the future. Just saying, in response to a different argument.

The demagoguery succeeds in a vacuum of ignorance, and also inattention to anything more than the negative politics.