Report: More Than Half of Immigrants in U.S. Are Unemployed

More than half of the foreign-born immigrant population in the United States under President Joe Biden’s administration is unemployed, according to a recent report.

The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) released a report on Monday that showed that just 46 percent of migrants who had arrived in the U.S. “in 2022 or later” were employed as of the beginning of 2024.

“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,” Steven Camarota and Karen Zeigler, researchers with the CIS, wrote.

This was the case in the past, it is true today, and it will surely be the case for immigrants who arrive in the future. Those who simply see immigration as a source of labor need to understand it is also a source of school children, retirees, and many other non-workers.

The data from the CIS report undermines arguments that supporters of illegal immigration have used to try to point out that migrant workers help the economy by working hard.

The report also found that, since Biden took office in January 2021, the migrant population in the U.S. increased by roughly 6.6 million over the course of 39 months.

As of March 2024, there were 51.6 million foreign-born migrants, 5.1 million more than in 2022. This number made up 15.6 percent of the population in the U.S.

“Many advocates for the unauthorized argue they should be given work permits so they can support themselves while they await a court date,” the researchers wrote in the report. “Of course, others worry that this would only incentivize more illegal immigration. In 2024, a larger share of new arrivals were unauthorized relative to prior years due to the ongoing border crisis.”

Another report from the CIS in February found that Biden’s job growth centered around hiring millions of foreign-born immigrants while the number of American citizens with jobs decreased from pre-COVID-19 levels.