May 24, 2005 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Foreign-born labor force participation

In 2004, there were 21.4 million foreign-born persons in the American labor force, 14.5 percent of the total. From 2002 to 2004, the number of foreign-born labor force participants grew by about 1.2 million and accounted for a little less than half of total labor force growth.

Labor force participation rate by sex, 2004
[Chart data—TXT]

A little over two-thirds—67.5 percent—of foreign-born persons 16 years and over were in the labor force in 2004. The labor force participation rate for the native born was 65.7 percent.

Foreign-born men were more likely to be labor force participants than their native-born counterparts. In contrast, foreign-born women were less likely to be labor force participants than were native-born women.

These data are from the Current Population Survey. Find more information in "Labor Force Characteristics of Foreign-born Workers in 2004" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 05-834.

Of interest

Spotlight on Statistics: The Recession of 2007–2009

The most recent recession in the United States began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009, though many of the statistics that describe the U.S. economy have yet to return to their pre-recession values. In this Spotlight, we present BLS data that compare the recent recession to previous recessions. Read more »