An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Bureau of Labor Statistics > Current Population Survey > Home

Foreign-born workers

Here you will find labor force, employment, and unemployment statistics for the foreign born and native born from the Current Population Survey (CPS) as well as information about these data. The CPS covers the nation’s civilian noninstitutional population ages 16 and older.

Explore our data

Read the latest Labor Force Characteristics of Foreign-Born Workers news release (annual)
- Find archived news releases in HTML and PDF format
Find the data for foreign- and native-born workers from the Employment Situation news release (monthly)
- Table A-7: Employment status of the civilian population by nativity and sex, not seasonally adjusted for the latest data
- Select series from table A-7 to retrieve historical data

Looking for additional analysis?

Search the data visualizations in the TED: The Economics Daily for foreign-born workers
Search our library of research by CPS staff for foreign-born workers

Understanding these data

What you need to know

Who is counted among the foreign born?

In CPS data the foreign born are people who reside in the United States who were not U.S. citizens at birth. Specifically, they were born outside the United States or one of its outlying areas such as Puerto Rico or Guam, and neither parent was a U.S. citizen.

The foreign-born population includes legally-admitted immigrants, refugees, temporary residents such as students and temporary workers, and undocumented immigrants. However, the survey does not specifically identify people in these categories.

The survey asks the foreign born if they have U.S. citizenship, but it does not ask non-citizens about their legal status to live and work in the United States.

The native born are people born in the United States or one of its outlying areas such as Puerto Rico or Guam or, if born abroad, had at least one parent who was a U.S. citizen.

Race and ethnicity groups in the foreign-born workers news release

The presentation of data for race and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity groups in the Labor Force Characteristics of Foreign-Born Workers news release differs from the presentation of most CPS data because people of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity here are separated from the race groups.

In this news release, data are presented for non-Hispanic White people, non-Hispanic Black people, non-Hispanic Asian people and for people of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity. Conversely, in most CPS publications, CPS data are presented for race groups regardless of ethnicity; people of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity may be of any race.

Questions about these data?

Who is included in the civilian noninstitutional population?

See the civilian noninstitutional population definition on the concepts and definitions page.

Are undocumented immigrants counted in the survey?

CPS estimates may include undocumented immigrants. The CPS is not designed to identify the legal status of workers. Therefore, it is not possible to determine how many undocumented immigrants are in the data. The survey includes questions to identify the foreign and native born but does not include questions about the legal status of the foreign born.