Technical information:         (202) 691-6378      USDL 08-0409
                      http://www.bls.gov/cps/
                                                   For release: 10:00 A.M. (EDT)
Media contact:                 (202) 691-5902      Wednesday, March 26, 2008

             FOREIGN-BORN WORKERS:  LABOR FORCE CHARACTERISTICS IN 2007

   Foreign-born workers' share of the U.S. labor force continued to grow, the
Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today.  In
2007, 24.0 million persons, or 15.7 percent of the U.S. civilian labor force
age 16 and over, were foreign born.  Their share of the labor force was up from
15.3 percent in 2006.  The unemployment rate for the foreign born increased by
0.3 percentage point over the year to 4.3 percent in 2007.  From 2003 to 2006,
it had declined by 2.6 percentage points.  The jobless rate of the native born,
at 4.7 percent in 2007, was unchanged from the prior year.

   This news release compares the labor force characteristics of the foreign
born with those of their native-born counterparts.  The data on nativity are 
collected as part of the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly sample
survey of approximately 60,000 households.  The foreign born are persons who
reside in the United States but who were born outside the country or one of its
outlying areas to parents who were not U.S. citizens.  The foreign born include
legally-admitted immigrants, refugees, temporary residents such as students and
temporary workers, and undocumented immigrants.  The survey data, however, do not
separately identify the numbers of persons in these categories.  For further in-
formation about the survey, see the Technical Note.

Demographic Characteristics

   The demographic characteristics of the foreign-born labor force differ from
those of the native-born labor force.  In 2007, men made up a larger proportion
of the foreign-born labor force (60.3 percent) than they did of the native-born
(52.4 percent) labor force.  Also, a higher proportion of the foreign-born than
the native-born labor force was made up of 25- to 54-year olds (76.4 and 66.6 per-
cent, respectively); labor force participation is typically highest among persons
in that age group.  (See table 1.)

   In 2007, Hispanics comprised 50.0 percent of the foreign-born labor force com-
pared with 7.4 percent of the native-born labor force.  Asians made up 21.9 per-
cent of the foreign-born labor force compared with 1.3 percent of the native-born
labor force.  (Data in this release for persons who are white, black, or Asian do
not include those of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity.  Data on persons of Hispanic or
Latino ethnicity are presented separately.)

   In terms of educational attainment, 27.4 percent of the foreign-born labor force
25 years old and over had not completed high school in 2007, compared with 6.0 per-
cent of the native-born labor force.  Similar proportions of foreign-born and native-
born persons in the labor force had a bachelor's or higher degree (31.1 and 34.2 per-
cent, respectively).  Foreign-born workers were less likely than native-born workers
to be high school graduates (with no college) or to have some college or an associate
degree.

Labor Force and Unemployment

   In 2007, about 24 million, or 68.5 percent, of the foreign born were in the labor
force; that rate was little changed from a year earlier.  In contrast, the labor
force participation rate of native-born workers edged down by 0.2 percentage point
to 65.6 percent in 2007.  Over the year, the number of foreign-born labor force par-
ticipants rose by 846,000; this represented about half of the total labor force in-
crease in 2007.  (See table 1.)  From 2000 to 2007, the foreign born accounted for
47.7 percent of the net increase in the civilian labor force.

   Foreign-born men were more likely to be labor force participants (81.9 percent)
than their native-born counterparts (71.6 percent) in 2007.  In contrast, 54.9 per-
cent of foreign-born women were labor force participants compared with 60.1 percent
of native-born women.


                                   - 2 -


   Foreign-born mothers with children under 18 years old were less likely to be labor
force participants than native-born mothers--60.1 versus 73.7 percent.  Among women
with children under age 3, the participation rate for the foreign born was 44.3 per-
cent, while that for the native born was 63.4 percent; both rates edged down over the
year.  The vast majority of both foreign- and native-born fathers with children under
18 were labor force participants--about 94 percent of each group.  (See table 2.)

   The unemployment rate of the foreign born increased from 4.0 percent in 2006 to
4.3 percent in 2007.  Over the year, the jobless rate of the native born held steady
at 4.7 percent.  The unemployment rate of the foreign born was lower than that of the
native born for the third year in a row.  Over the year, the unemployment rate for 
foreign-born men rose from 3.5 to 4.1 percent, while the rate for foreign-born women
was little changed at 4.6 percent.  (See table 1.)

   By region, the foreign born made up a larger share of the total labor force in the
West (24.6 percent) and in the Northeast (18.3 percent) than for the nation as a
whole (15.7 percent).  In contrast, the shares of the labor force made up by foreign-
born workers in the South (13.8 percent) and Midwest (7.5 percent) regions were less
than for the nation.  (See table 6.)

Occupation

   Foreign-born workers in 2007 were more likely than their native-born counterparts
to be employed in service occupations (22.8 versus 15.4 percent); in natural resources,
construction, and maintenance occupations (16.4 versus 9.7 percent), and in production,
transportation, and material moving occupations (16.2 versus 11.7 percent).  In con-
trast, native-born workers were more likely than foreign-born workers to be employed
in management, professional, and related occupations--37.0 versus 27.2 percent.
(See table 4.)

   In 2007, about 1 in 4 foreign-born men were employed in natural resources, con-
struction, and maintenance occupations, while nearly 1 in 3 women were in service
occupations.  As compared with the foreign born, a larger share of native-born
women and men were employed in management, professional, and related occupations.

Earnings

   In 2007, the median usual weekly earnings of foreign-born full-time wage and sal-
ary workers were $554, compared with $722 for the native born.  Among men, median
earnings were $585 per week for the foreign born, compared with $809 for the native
born; the median for foreign-born women was $509, compared with $627 for the native
born.  (See table 5.)

   As with the native born, the earnings of foreign-born workers increased with edu-
cation.  Foreign-born workers 25 years of age and over with less than a high school
education earned $405 per week in 2007, while those with bachelor's degrees and higher
earned about 2.6 times as much--$1,057 a week.

   The gap between the earnings of the foreign-born and the native-born workers nar-
rows with higher levels of education.  Among those with less than a high school di-
ploma, full-time workers who were foreign born earned 84.6 percent as much as their
native-born counterparts.  Among those with a bachelor's degree and higher, foreign-
born workers earned almost the same (98.3 percent) as native-born workers.