According to a National Foundation for American Policy analysis of government data, there is no sign that U.S. workers have reentered the labor market in response to the withdrawal of immigrant workers.
The unemployment rate for U.S.-born workers was 4.3% in November 2025 compared to 3.9% in November 2024. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for all workers is up since Trump took office, from 4.1% in January 2025 to 4.6% in November 2025. The labor force participation rate for the U.S.-born aged 16 and older stayed steady at 61.6% between November 2024 and November 2025.
Foreign-born Workers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics household survey shows a decline of 1.1 million foreign-born workers since the start of the Trump administration in January 2025, and a drop of 1.5 million since a peak in March 2025.
The Congressional Budget Office and the Social Security Administration assumed more than 2 million net immigrants into the United States in 2025, which would translate into approximately 1.3 million more workers. From 2014 to 2024, the average annual growth in the foreign-born labor force was 652,000 a year, or an increase of about 598,000 over 11 months.
Number of Foreign Workers in US
A new Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data finds that, as of June 2025, 51.9 million immigrants lived in the U.S., 15.4% of all U.S. residents were immigrants, down from a recent historic high of 15.8% and 19% of the U.S. labor force were immigrants, down from 20% and by over 750,000 workers since January.
“The Trump administration’s policies on illegal and legal immigration would reduce the projected number of workers in the United States by 6.8 million by 2028 and by 15.7 million by 2035 and lower the annual rate of economic growth by almost one-third, harming U.S. living standards,” according to an analysis by the National Foundation for American Policy.
Due to fewer workers in the labor force, the Trump administration’s immigration policies would lead to a potential labor loss to the U.S. economy of approximately 19 million worker years by 2028 and 102 million worker years by 2035, according to the analysis.
Recent US Jobs Data
The government shutdown caused a delay in the publishing of the most recent job data, which are generally issued monthly. An estimated 105,000 jobs were lost in October, with 64,000 created in November, according to the latest study released last week.
In the four weeks ending December 6, US private companies gained an average of 11,500 jobs each week, down from 17,500 the previous week, according to ADP’s NER Pulse recently issued report.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped for a second straight week, declining by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 214,000 for the week ended December 20, but the unemployment rate likely remained high in December amid sluggish hiring.
