Over the last several years, dating back to before the COVID-19 pandemic, a trend has emerged in the labor market: a divergence between employment levels of natural US citizens and foreign-born individuals. The gap widened substantially during the previous administration, favoring newcomers. In the early days of President Donald Trump’s second term, however, American workers have gained all the new jobs this year.
US Workers Taking Foreigners’ Jobs
For years, both sides of the aisle have shrieked that foreigners are taking Americans’ jobs. Well, no more. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, US-born employment levels have soared by 2.079 million, and employed foreign-born workers have declined by 502,000.
Employment prospects appear to be bright for both American men and women, too. Job growth had been flat for both genders after the US labor market fully recovered from the public health crisis by late 2022. However, once the calendar flipped to 2025, payrolls surged by about one million for US male and female workers. Meanwhile, the government's data indicates a significant decline in the number of employed foreign male and female workers beginning in March.
Over the years, Liberty Nation News has spotlighted this development in the national labor market. One point that requires mention is that the Bureau of Labor Statistics categorizes foreign-born individuals as both legal and illegal immigrants. However, defenders of former President Joe Biden insisted that illegals were neither skewing the data nor taking jobs away from the American people.
Of course, the timing is suspect because border crossings have tanked, and the White House is engaged in a massive deportation operation. Now that this has become commonplace, employment conditions are favoring individuals born in the United States.
Will Trumponomics Reverse Trumponomics?
President Trump has floated the idea of permitting deportation exemptions for illegal migrants who have spent years working in the agriculture and hospitality industries. While not formally announced, the president has discussed a couple of times establishing a system that would mandate employers to take legal responsibility for long-term employees who are in the country illegally.
The undocumented workers, according to President Trump, would then be in the country legally and pay taxes without being granted citizenship.
"We have a lot of cases where ICE would go into the farm, and these are guys that are working there for 10 to 15 years, no problem," Trump said at a news conference after touring Alligator Alcatraz in Florida on July 1. "The farmers know them. It’s called ‘farmer responsibility’ or ‘owner responsibility,’ but they're going to be largely responsible for these people, and they know these people. They've worked on the farms for 15 years. We have a great feeling for the farmer and for others in the same position."
Media reports indicate that corporations are accelerating their imports of foreign workers, mainly from India. Microsoft has reportedly requested more than 6,300 H-1B visas, which comes as the tech titan laid off thousands of employees. Additionally, companies like Amazon and Google are asking H-1B visa holders not to leave the United States.
This has sparked many questions. If tech juggernauts are trimming headcount because of artificial intelligence, why is there a need to import foreign labor? Do US workers lack the necessary skills to fill these positions? Will the president heed his MAGA base and issue a red alert to the likes of Jeff Bezos and Satya Nadella?
Nevertheless, it will be fascinating to see if the US-foreign divergence continues to narrow or if it restarts in the second half of 2025.
Mixed June Jobs Data
In the end, there will be various folks asking, “If not for illegals, who will pick the crops?” While the United States is suffering from a labor shortage – with 7.7 million job vacancies – the reality is that there is a labor shortage at the lower wage rates. Put simply, Americans will perform these jobs if compensation is high enough to attract labor.
The June jobs report, on the surface, was once again impressive. The US government created a better-than-expected 147,000 new jobs, and the unemployment rate fell to 4.1%. However, the update was mixed, highlighting growth in government and government-adjacent jobs, while the household survey revealed fewer new positions. Still, the fact that American workers are gaining employment rather than illegal immigrants suggests the forgotten men and women are no longer being forgotten.
