Immigrants Swamped Job Growth, Inflation Drowned Wage Gains

... The economy added back 431,000 jobs in March according to the Payroll Survey, as the unemployment rate dropped by a more-than-expected two-tenths of one percent, to 3.6%. The country is now just one percentage point above the historic low (3.5%) seen in February 2020 at the peak of the Trump boom. Equally important, the Labor Force Participation rate remains one percentage point below its pre-pandemic level.

Our analysis of the March Household Survey indicates an employment gain of 736,000 – about 300,000, or 41% more jobs than the figure reported in the Payroll Survey....

Job growth by nativity, calculated exclusively by VDARE.com from data in the Household Employment Survey, in March was as follows:

• Immigrants (legal and illegal) lost 43,000 jobs, a 0.2% reduction from February.
• Native-born Americans gained 779,000 positions, a 0.6% rise from February
• Thus VDARE.com’s immigrant employment index, set at 100.0 in January 2009, fell to 130.4 from 130.6 in February, a 0.2% reduction...

From March 2021 to March 2022:

• Immigrant employment rose by 2.286 million, an eye-popping 8.8% gain, while native-born American employment rose by 5.326 million, a 4.3% gain. ADVANTAGE IMMIGRANTS
• The immigrant adult population rose by 1.397 million, a gain of 3.10%, Y-O-Y, while the corresponding native-born American population increased 1.044 million —a 0.48% rise. ADVANTAGE IMMIGRANTS.
• The immigrant labor force (people working or looking for work) grew by 4.98%, more than twice the 1.88% gain in the native-born labor force. ADVANTAGE IMMIGRANTS The data in the table are from a survey of households which includes self-employed workers, agricultural workers, and private family workers, who are excluded from the more widely-cited Payroll Survey. Also overlooked, we contend, are illegal immigrants working “off the books” in large corporations.
• Labor Force Participation Rates rose for both native-born Americans and immigrants, but the 1.1 %point (or 1.71%) gain for immigrants was larger than the corresponding gains for native-born workers. ADVANTAGE IMMIGRANTS
• Unemployment rates for native-born workers fell by 2.2 percentage points, or 36.7%, while immigrant unemployment rates fell by 3.4 points, or 60.0%. ADVANTAGE IMMIGRANTS
• 5.691 million native-born, and 1.092 million immigrants, were unemployed in February; Over the past 12 months the number of unemployed immigrants fell by 47.6%, while native-born jobless declined by 35.4%. ADVANTAGE IMMIGRANTS

The big picture: The U.S. economy still has roughly 1.6 million fewer jobs than before the mass layoffs that began in February 2020....