Size of U.S. Unauthorized Immigrant Workforce Stable After the Great Recession
There were 8 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. working or looking for work in 2014, making up 5% of the civilian labor force.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
There were 8 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. working or looking for work in 2014, making up 5% of the civilian labor force.
The estimated total – 11.1 million in 2014 – has steadied since the end of the recession as the number declined from Mexico but grew from other countries.
Most U.S. unauthorized immigrants hold low-skilled service, construction and production jobs, but those shares have fallen since 2007. In the states, the leading industry employers are hospitality, manufacturing and construction.
Puerto Ricans have left the financially troubled island for the U.S. mainland this decade in their largest numbers since the Great Migration after World War II, citing job-related reasons above all others.
1. Overview Remittances to Spanish-speaking Latin American countries overall have recovered from a decline during the recent recession, with the notable exception of Mexico, according to World Bank data analyzed by the Pew Research Center. Migrants’ remittances to Mexico, an estimated $22 billion in 2013, are 29% below their 2006 peak. For all other Spanish-speaking […]
The poverty rate for Hispanics was 28.2% in 2010, higher than it was for blacks, non-Hispanic whites or Asians, and higher than the official poverty rate for Hispanics, 26.7%, reported by the Census Bureau.
The flow of immigrants from Mexico to the United States has declined sharply since mid-decade, but there is no evidence of an increase during this period in the number of Mexican-born migrants returning home from the U.S.
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