US Jobs Report Shows Foreigners in Labor Force Declined Significantly

The alphabet soup of news outlets reveled in reporting Friday that the US economy unexpectedly lost 23,000 jobs last month. ABC repeated this hourly on radio all day, without offering the reason why.

The New York Times made even more of it: U.S. Hiring Slumps, a Worrying Sign for the Economy.

USA Today claimed that the US economy loses 23,000 jobs in July as labor market weakens.

This ostensible “worrying sign for the economy” and “weaker labor market” is no such thing.

The labor market is not weakening. At all.

Americans should be cheering, because the Bureau of Labor Statistics has the receipts: The American workforce has fewer foreign born men and women – fewer illegal aliens are taking American jobs. 

Illegal immigrant workers are being deported or self-deporting.

Foreign-born men down by 819,000.

Foreign-born women down by 418,000.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports:

Foreign-born civilian noninstitutional population (16 years and older): Fell by about 401,000, from 48,510 to 48,109 (48.1 million).

Foreign-born civilian labor force (overall): Declined by about 550,000, from 32,066 to 31,516 (31.5 million). Employment fell by about 278,000, from 30,764 to 30,486 (30.5 million).

Foreign-born men:

Population: Down by about 819,000, from 23,595 to 22,776 (22.8 million). That’s huge. 

Labor force: Down by about 962,000 (nearly 1 million), from 18,294 to 17,332 (17.3 million). Participation rate fell from 77.5% to 76.1%.

Employed: Down by about 752,000, from 17,597 to 16,845 (16.8 million).

Foreign-born women:

Population rose by about 418,000 (from 24,915 to 25,333); labor force and employment also increased (labor force up 412,000; employed up 474,000).

The BLS/Current Population Survey series shows that as the foreign-born labor force and population have declined, native-born employment has risen in some comparisons.

Temporary jobs during the World Cup also played a roll in jobs declining. White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, said “If you throw out the World Cup and the government workers, we actually had a number that was plus 100,000” on Fox Business.  “Most of that really comes from two things,” Hassett said. “Thing one is the baby boomers are retiring now. We’re sort of in a demographic phase where there will be less labor force participation, and that’ll keep on going for a good long time.”

“And, of course, the other thing is our tight border policy. So we don’t have foreign illegal workers stampeding into the economy, and that used to also show up as inflated numbers.”