Foreign-born workers form nearly a fifth of the U.S. labor force. As the current immigration crackdown continues, one should expect a slower pace of growth in the labor supply to place a constraint on economic growth and productivity.
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Last year, foreign-born workers accounted for 19.2% of the U.S. civilian labor force, up from 18.6% in 2023, according to the May 2025 release by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
People who identify as Hispanic or Latino account for nearly half of the foreign-born labor force, but only 12.7% of the native-born labor force.
In terms of educational attainment, 15% of the foreign-born labor force have attended college or has an associate’s degree, while 41.3% hold a bachelor’s degree or higher.
As for unskilled occupations, a substantial portion of immigrants work in jobs in sectors like agriculture or leisure and hospitality that would otherwise go unfilled.
As for skilled labor, 41.3% of the foreign-born members of the labor force have a bachelor’s degree or higher. Only eight jurisdictions (Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Vermont and Virginia) have a labor force with higher levels of educational attainment.
