Stuart Anderson writes:

Government data show the Trump administration’s immigration policies reducing the number of foreign-born workers did not help U.S.-born workers in 2025. The latest data indicate a substantial drop in foreign-born workers did not translate into better labor market outcomes for U.S.-born workers or encourage more workers to enter the labor force. The U.S.-born unemployment rate increased over the past 12 months. Trump officials, including White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, predicted fewer immigrant workers would produce significant benefits for U.S.-born workers.

The latest jobs report confirms what other monthly reports showed in 2025: Fewer foreign-born workers are in the U.S. labor force due to the Trump administration’s policies on legal and illegal immigration. “The Bureau of Labor Statistics household survey shows a decline of 881,000 foreign-born workers since the start of the Trump administration in January 2025, and a drop of 1.3 million since a peak in March 2025,” according to a National Foundation for American Policy analysis.

The NFAP analysis notes the drop in the size of the immigrant labor force represents a shock for the U.S. economy but is even larger when compared to the expected level. In their assumptions, the Congressional Budget Office and the Social Security Administration expected approximately 1.3 million more foreign-born workers in 2025, which would create a gap of more than 2 million expected workers once 810,000 fewer foreign-born workers in the latest BLS data are added.

Why is labor force growth essential? Economic growth, which raises a country’s living standards, relies on labor force growth and productivity growth, and immigrants are essential to both, particularly given their role in boosting productivity and America’s aging workforce. Immigrant workers accounted for more than half of U.S. labor force growth between 2014 and 2024. [Continue reading…]