Native-Born American Labor Participation Slumps As Immigrant Labor Numbers Jump

The rate of labor participation among native-born Americans has slumped while the number of immigrants in the workforce has surged, a new report from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) indicates.

The drop among native-born Americans was pronounced among men within their prime working years, the CIS study explains.

“The share of working-age (16 to 64) U.S.-born men not in the labor force increased from 11 percent in April 1960 to 17 percent in April 2000, and to 22 percent in April 2024,” the report states. “Among ‘prime-age’ U.S.-born men (25 to 54), the group most likely to work, the share not in the labor force was 4 percent in April 1960, 9 percent in 2000 and 12 percent in 2024.”

CIS found that 45 million native-born American men and women between the ages of 16 and 64 were not in the labor force as of April, marking an increase of 8.5 million since 2000. It also accounted for the aging of the population, explaining that “even the share of younger U.S.-born men (25 to 34) not in the labor force has increased over the last six decades.”

“Focusing only on U.S.-born men without a bachelor’s degree and excluding teenagers still shows the share (20 to 64) not in the labor force increased from 7 percent in 1960 to 16 percent in 2000, and to 22 percent in 2024,” the CIS study says.

The number of American-born men who are not in the labor force surged by a whopping 13.2 million from 1960 to 2024, CIS points out. Immigrant men’s participation in the labor force surged by 14.1 million during the same period of time, however.

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The lead author behind the report, Steven Camarota, contended that an over reliance on immigrant labor has harmed American workers.

“Relying on immigrant workers has allowed our country to ignore the decades-long decline in labor force participation,” he asserted. “Reducing immigration would cause wages to rise, incentivizing work and compelling policymakers to undertake much-needed reforms in welfare and disability programs.”