While efforts to slash the foreign-born workforce were efficacious, they did not succeed in bolstering jobs for U.S.-born workers, according to labor economist and NFAP senior fellow Mark Regets.
“Most economic research shows that immigration increases employment opportunities for the U.S.-born, so it would not be surprising if reducing immigration harms American workers,” Regets said in the report.
“A company unable to find the workers it needs for some roles could shut down operations rather than continuing,” Regets said.
He suggested efforts to stifle immigration for the sake of boosting opportunities for workers in the name of growing the U.S. economy has, instead, backfired completely.
“The data is raising huge red flags that we are losing immigrants of all types that otherwise would be advancing America’s economy,” he added.
Immigrants made up 14.7% of the U.S. population in 2023, but paid 17.3% of the share of taxes and made up 17.4% of the share of income, making higher income and paying more in taxes per capita than their U.S.-born counterparts, according to the report. Many immigrants come to the U.S. in their twenties, requiring less schooling and therefore education costs than those born in the U.S. Similarly, many temporary or undocumented immigrants do not qualify for Social Security, and cost the government about $74,000 less per capita in old-age benefits.
