Immigrants filling nearly 3 of 10 new U.S. jobs

By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar
Los Angeles Times

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most e-mailed articles

Related stories State steadily recouping lost jobs

The report by the nonpartisan Pew Hispanic Center found that workers who are not U.S. citizens claimed 378,496 jobs out of a net increase of 1.3 million from the first three months of 2003 through the first three months of 2004.

The share of jobs going to noncitizens — 28.5 percent — was particularly notable because workers who are not U.S. citizens account for fewer than 9 percent of all those holding jobs in the United States.

"The proportion of new jobs captured by noncitizens was ... much larger than their share of overall employment," said the report, prepared by labor economist Rakesh Kochhar. "Thus, the political impact of job gains may be dampened by the fact that noncitizens are benefiting disproportionately from the turnaround in the labor market."

Roberto Suro, director of the center, said in an interview, "The turnaround is being fueled to a substantial extent by the demand for immigrant labor. And as a result, a substantial chunk of the new jobs are going to people who are not voters."

The study is likely to sharpen the debate about the role of immigrant workers in America, the quality of new jobs and the impact of globalization. Most economists have tended to minimize the impact of large numbers of immigrants entering the U.S. job market, but the Pew findings may bolster those who challenge that view.

The high proportion of new jobs going to recent immigrants may reflect the fact that the current recovery has thus far been different from most past upturns. In recent months, as overall job growth has begun to improve, most of the new jobs appear to have come in categories that require relatively low skills and pay relatively low wages — the kinds of jobs for which new immigrants are strong competitors. In the past, the early stages of economic recoveries have been marked by growth in industrial jobs that pay above-average wages.

Jared Bernstein, senior economist at the liberal Economic Policy Institute think tank, said his analysis supports the idea that "the occupations that are gaining are on the low end."

"We see wage growth far less than you would expect at this stage," he said.

The Pew center, which specializes in social and economic research on the U.S. Hispanic population, based its findings on an analysis of government surveys used to determine the unemployment rate. The study is the first to compare the job gains of citizens and noncitizens in the current economic recovery.

The data used in the report do not distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

E-mail this article

Print this article

Search archive

More nation & world headlines...