Flood of immigrants is costing young Americans jobs

September 25, 2006

Young United States-born workers are being displaced in the labor market by immigrants. That’s the conclusion of a new study authored by economists at Northeastern University and published by the Center for Immigration Studies.

The report is entitled, 'The Impact of New Immigrants on Young Native-Born Workers, 2000-2005.

Among its findings:

• Between 2000 and 2005, 4.1 million immigrant workers arrived from abroad, accounting for 86 percent of the net increase in the total number of employed persons (16 and older), the highest share ever recorded in the United States.
• Of the 4.1 million new immigrant workers, between 1.4 and 2.7 million are estimated to be illegal immigrants.
• Between 2000 and 2005, the number of young (16 to 34) native-born men who were employed declined by 1.7 million; at the same time, the number of new male immigrant workers increased by 1.9 million.
• Multivariate statistical analyses show that the probability of teens and young adults (20-24) being employed was negatively affected by the number of new immigrant workers (legal and illegal) in their state.
• The negative impacts tended to be larger for younger workers, for in-school youth compared to out-of-school youth, and for native-born black and Hispanic males compared to their white counterparts.
• It appears that employers are substituting new immigrant workers for young native-born workers. The estimated sizes of these displacement effects were frequently quite large.
• These findings are particularly troubling because a person’s early work experience –– or lack thereof –– has a significant impact on their performance in the labor market later in life. It is when young that people learn the skills necessary to successful employment.