Employment and Wages

While updating our immigration system has been a slow process, over the last decade, there have been efforts to pass comprehensive immigration reform legislation and the DREAM Act. Other reform efforts include executive actions such as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA). Learn more about the ways America can upgrade its immigration system.

Recent Features

  • Blog

Immigrant Workers Enhance and Expand the U.S. Economy

Over the years, more and more economists have come to the conclusion that immigrant workers “complement” the native-born majority of the labor force by bringing different sets of skills and different demographic profiles with them, both of which enhance and expand the economy as a whole.

All Employment and Wages Content

  • Special Report

Beyond Border Enforcement: Enhancing National Security Through Immigration Reform

Publication Date: 
May 2, 2007
Since 9/11 the watchword in the debate over immigration reform has been “security.” As a result, most policymakers and pundits now approach the subject of immigration largely from a law-enforcement...
  • Fact Sheet

Dollars without Sense: Underestimating the Value of Less-Educated Workers

Publication Date: 
May 1, 2007
A recent report from the Heritage Foundation is one in a long line of deeply flawed economic analyses which claim to estimate the contributions and "costs" of workers based solely on the amount of...
  • Special Report

Attracting the Best and the Brightest: The Promise and Pitfalls of a Skill-Based Immigration Policy

Publication Date: 
December 1, 2006
One question that recently received heightened attention from lawmakers is whether or not immigrants should be admitted to the United States less on the basis of family ties and more on the basis of...
  • Research and Analysis

Rethinking the Effects of Immigration on Wages: New Data and Analysis from 1990-2004

Publication Date: 
October 1, 2006
By Giovanni Peri, Ph.D.A crucial question in the current debate over immigration is what impact immigrants have on the wages of native...
  • Research and Analysis

Competing for Global Talent: The Race Begins with Foreign Students

Publication Date: 
September 1, 2006
By Jeanne Batalova, Ph.D.
  • Research and Analysis

Building a Competitive Workforce: Immigration and the U.S. Manufacturing Sector

Publication Date: 
August 1, 2006
Shortages of skilled labor constitute the foremost challenge confronting U.S. manufacturers who face growing competition from manufacturers in Asia, Eastern Europe, and elsewhere. Demand for...
  • Research and Analysis

The Growth and Reach of Immigration: New Census Bureau Data Underscore Importance of Immigrants

Publication Date: 
August 1, 2006
New data from the 2005 American Community Survey (ACS), released by the Census Bureau on August 15, 2006, underscore the extent to which immigration continues to fuel the expansion of the U.S. labor...
  • Research and Analysis

Immigrants, Skills, and Wages: Measuring the Economic Gains from Immigration

Publication Date: 
March 1, 2006
Foreign-born workers do not substitute perfectly for, and therefore do not compete with, most native-born workers. Rather, the complementary nature of the skills, occupations, and abilities of...
  • Fact Sheet

The Economics of Necessity: Economic Report of the President Underscores Importance of Immigration

Publication Date: 
May 1, 2005
Although immigration is crucial to the growth of the U.S. labor force and yields a net fiscal benefit to the U.S. economy, current immigration policies fail to respond to actual labor demand.
  • Research and Analysis

Essential Workers: Immigrants are a Needed Supplement to the Native-Born Labor Force

Publication Date: 
March 1, 2005
An analysis of data from the 2000 census reveals that employment in about one-third of all U.S. job categories would have contracted during the 1990s in the absence of recently arrived, noncitizen...
  • Blog

Class Action Settlement Removes Obstacles Preventing Asylum Applicants from Working

December 19, 2013

A recent settlement agreement in a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of thousands of asylum seekers is removing obstacles they faced in obtaining work documents while they pursue their asylum...

  • Blog

Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Huddled Masses…But Don’t Let Them Work?

September 21, 2011

Every year, thousands of people flee persecution in their home countries and seek safe haven in the United States. Many of them spend their entire savings on the journey, travel under life-...

  • Blog

Report Provides Solutions to Broken Asylum Employment Authorization Clock

February 12, 2010

Asylum applicants and their attorneys have long struggled to better understand how the employment authorization asylum clock (“EAD asylum clock”) functions. The clock, which measures the number of...

  • Blog

How Family-Based Immigrants Succeed in the US Economy

June 12, 2018

Migration based on family ties has long been the foundation of the U.S. immigration system. Yet lawmakers are proposing drastic cuts to family-based immigration in favor of immigrants who come to...

  • Press Release

The Immigrant Success Story: How Family-Based Immigrants Thrive in America

June 12, 2018
Through analysis of data from the decennial census and administrative data from the Immigration and Naturalization Service, this special report examines the earnings gains over time of all immigrants, as well as the earnings gains experienced by family-based immigrants compared to employment-based immigrants.
  • Special Report

The Immigrant Success Story

Publication Date: 
June 11, 2018
Some confusion exists regarding the economic aspects of family-based immigration. To help unpack those aspects, this report focuses on one of them—namely, the earnings of family-based immigrants.
  • Blog

Immigrants Create Jobs for American Workers, Boosting the U.S. Employment Rate

May 22, 2018

When immigrants bring their skills to the U.S. labor market, everyone—immigrants and native-born workers alike—benefit from their company. Research has repeatedly shown that native-born workers...

  • Blog

Delays in the Increase of Seasonal Worker Visas May Prove Too Late for Certain Industries

May 7, 2018

Failure to get H-2B (seasonal worker) visas approved has put Maryland’s seafood industry in jeopardy. Almost half of the Eastern Shore’s crab houses do not have workers they need to pick the meat...

  • Blog

Allowing Spouses of H1-B’s to Work Makes America More Competitive

March 27, 2018

As part of the April 2017 “Buy American and Hire American” executive order, the Trump administration announced that it intends to revoke the employment eligibility of the spouses of foreign...

  • Blog

Immigrants Fuel Job Gains, Not Losses in the United States

March 6, 2018

Immigrants are often used as convenient scapegoats for those feeling the economic pinch of joblessness. However, for at least the last 15 years, immigrants have not been a source of significant...

  • Blog

The Dream Act Could Add Millions to Your Congressional District

December 12, 2017

Current and former recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative are asking Congress to recognize the impact they and other Dreamers have on the United States, and to...

  • Blog

How Immigrants Helped Boost American Jobs in the Midwest

November 7, 2017

At a time when anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies seem to be growing, immigrants in the United States continue to do what they have done for over a century—bring unique and vital experiences to...

  • Blog

Florida and Texas Need Immigrants to Rebuild

September 12, 2017

With Hurricanes Irma and Harvey ravaging much of Florida and Texas, the states will soon begin a substantial, years-long rebuilding process. The aftermath of previous natural disasters has shown...

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