More newcomers who arrived in the United States in the last two years are receiving work authorizations, which facilitate their moves out of city shelters and the underground economy. And a growing body of evidence from economists suggests that, far from being a perpetual drain on municipal budgets, migrants are helping power American economic growth.
“Without immigration, the U.S. labor market would be in deep trouble, because native workers are not able to fill job openings,” said Zeke Hernandez, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.
“Native workers and businesses would both be significantly worse off without immigrants in the labor market,” Hernandez said. “It’s not just that foreign-born people fill job vacancies. It’s much more than that. Many jobs can’t be done unless there’s a minimum number of people to do them.”
While immigrants account for just 18% of the national workforce, they disproportionately fill positions in certain sectors, said Hernandez, the Wharton School professor and author of “The Truth About Immigration Why Successful Societies Welcome Newcomers.”
This includes 33% of agricultural jobs, 36% in clothes manufacturing, and nearly a third of hospitality jobs. For the most part, he said those jobs go unfilled by native workers.
Hernandez stated in an email that the nation’s labor market would be in “deep trouble” without immigrant workers.
He added, “this is part of a long-term trend that has only gotten stronger with time as more Americans retire and fewer native-born people enter the labor force.”
