COMMENTARY
Census Report on Growth of Immigration
- “Immigration is a valuable resource to our economy and our labor force,” says Benjamin Johnson of the Immigration Policy Center, “and we must start treating it like a resource and manage it on an ongoing basis.”
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- For more information, contact Tim Vettel (202-742-5608) at the Immigration Policy Center. Tvettel@ailf.org
IPC Public Affairs
The Census Bureau released data on August 15th that includes new statistics on immigration to the U.S. The data indicate that as the population of the U.S. continues to grow, so does the number of immigrants. The statistics also indicate that immigrants contribute to population growth throughout the U.S. This dispersal of immigrants throughout all regions of the country continues a trend seen in past Census Bureau statistics as well as in studies by immigration policy organizations.
In the past, most immigrants moved to six states—California, New York, Texas, Florida, Illinois, and New Jersey. Those states still receive most of the new arrivals. But now other regions of the country also are seeing growing immigrant populations.
And that is, generally, good news since many immigrants come to the U.S. to work. The employment rate for adult male immigrants is 86%; among undocumented immigrants the rate is an even higher 94%.
But the Census data also illustrate that it is very important for Congress to get serious about legislation to reform the U.S. immigration system. The Census data do not distinguish between documented and undocumented immigrants. So, we don’t know how many of the average one million immigrants who settle in the U.S. each year are documented and how many are undocumented. What we do know from the Census data is that the average age and education levels of the U.S. population continue to climb and that immigrants continue to come here to fill jobs that this older and better educated native-born workforce is increasingly less interested in filling.
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