Just 46% of new immigrants are working, census data show

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President Biden has overseen the fastest expansion of immigration — legal and illegal — in U.S. history, but less than half of the newcomers are holding jobs, according to a report released Monday.

The Center for Immigration Studies, using Census Bureau numbers, calculates that 46% of immigrants who arrived over the past two years are employed. That challenges a key selling point from immigration advocates that the stream of newcomers is critical to the U.S. economy.

Some immigrants say they are looking for work, but most — including the elderly, children and caregivers — are out of the labor force, the report said.

“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,” said report authors Steven A. Camarota and Karen Zeigler. “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. How could it be otherwise; immigrants are people.”

The U.S. had 51.6 million immigrants as of March 2024, up 5.1 million from March 2022. That is the largest two-year increase in history. The country has netted 6.6 million foreign-born since the start of the Biden administration.

Immigrants account for 15.6% of the total U.S. population, also a record, shattering the previous high of 14.8% in 1890.

CIS said if trends continue, the U.S. will top 18% by the end of this decade. Australia’s population is 30% immigrants, and Canada’s is more than 20%. Germany’s is roughly 19%, and Britain’s is 14%.

“Perhaps the most fundamental question these numbers raise is whether America can successfully incorporate and assimilate all the immigrants already here, let alone millions more in the future,” the report said.

One persistent issue has been whether immigrants are a net benefit or a drain.

The Congressional Budget Office says that taken as a whole, the economy grows faster with more people. The reason is simple: More potential workers means a more productive total economy.

The CBO says the average worker is slightly worse off. Again, the reason is simple: The pie may be bigger, but it is divided by even more people.

The CBO says the population has a large range of outcomes. Those at the higher economic rungs come out better off with higher immigration levels, while those on the lower rungs, who are more likely to compete with less-educated newcomers, end up worse off.

That dynamic is particularly true in times of high illegal immigration because those new arrivals tend to be less educated.

The CIS said the unemployment rate among immigrants from Latin America, overlapping heavily with illegal immigrants, without a college education is 10%. That rate has held steady for several decades.

The Biden administration is trying to get official work permits for newly arrived illegal immigrants who are caught and released into the interior. Immigrant rights advocates say that will allow the migrants to support themselves and stop using government assistance.

Mr. Camarota and Ms. Zeigler said illegal immigrants seem to be getting jobs whether they have legal permits or not.

“Worksite enforcement in the United States is quite lax,” they wrote. “As best we can tell, lack of work authorization does not seem to be a significant hindrance to the employment of illegal immigrants relative to the past or compared to immigrants overall.”

Looking only at those of working age, 16 to 64, 58% of the new arrivals hold jobs. That compares with 72% of the total U.S. population.

Mr. Camarota said that’s a result of several factors, including new arrivals’ difficulty settling in and getting jobs. He predicted that in 10 years, the people who just arrived now will have employment rates similar to native-born Americans.

Much of the border debate focuses on nontraditional migrants, including those from China and Middle Eastern nations who are showing up at the U.S.-Mexico boundary.

CIS’s data captures some of the exceptional growth. Of the 6.6 million net gain in immigrants, more than 650,000 are from the Middle East, adding 34% to that population since 2021. Another 470,000 are from China, adding 20% to the Chinese immigrant population over three years.

The CIS based its report on the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey, the monthly tool the government uses to tally the unemployment rate.

The CIS said the numbers on immigrants are, if anything, undercounting the situation because immigrants often resist answering government survey questions.