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Foreign-Born Comprise 16% of Workforce

May 27, 2011

Foreign-born workers comprised 15.8 percent of the workforce in 2010, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The jobless rate of the foreign-born was 9.8 percent in 2010, compared with 9.6 percent for native U.S. workers in 2010.

The number of foreign-born labor force participants rose, while the number of native-born in the labor force declined, according to the report.

Hispanics accounted for 49.9 percent of the foreign-born labor force in 2010; Asians accounted for 21.8 percent.

Foreign-born workers were more likely than native-born workers to be employed in service occupations; production, transportation and material moving occupations; and natural resources, construction and maintenance occupations.

The median usual weekly earnings of foreign-born full-time wage and salary workers was $598 in 2010, compared with $771 for their native-born counterparts.

The foreign born include legally admitted immigrants, refugees, temporary residents such as students and temporary workers, and undocumented immigrants.