Staggering numbers have revealed that more than 1.2 million US-born workers lost their jobs last month, while the foreign-born workforce increased by 668,000 – as migrants under Biden’s rule continue to flood the border.
Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that there was a staggering drop of 1.223 million natives in the labor force between July and August — a low not seen since April 2020.
Figures, hidden in the data published on Sept. 1, exposed how much American citizens are losing livelihoods and highlighted the effects of Trump and Biden’s border policies on the U.S. labor market.
The number of US-born workers in employment had previously increased steadily since January, when the figure stood at 130 million. This rose to 131.1 million in April before peaking at 132.25 million in July.
Employment in this category fell again in August to 131.03 million.
In comparison, the number of foreign-born workers has increased since the beginning of the year. In January 2023, there were 28.69 million non-natives employed in the United States, rising to 29.96 million in April and 30.396 million in August.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the most dramatic fall in native employment occurred between March and April 2020, in the first month of the coronavirus pandemic.
Employment jumped from 128 million to 111 million in four weeks – representing the loss of 173.24 million jobs.
July to August 2023 was the biggest drop since then.
Although there can often be dips in employment during the summer months and during the winter period from December to January, the fall this year is greater than in previous periods.
In 2021, there was a drop in employment by 601,000 natives in the US between July and August.
Similarly, in the same months in 2022, there were 324,000 fewer workers in work.
Even before the pandemic, there were 700,000 fewer Native Americans in the U.S. workforce, according to data from July and August 2019.
Therefore, the negative difference of 1.223 million this year seems more concerning, contradicting the trend of previous holiday breaks.
Looking at the same summer jumps for foreign workers, the opposite trend seems to be true. Employment has grown instead of contracted.
Between the summer months of the first year of the pandemic, the employment of foreign-born workers exploded: by 473,000.
Between July and August 2021, the number of foreign-born workers increased by 237,000, and in 2022, although there was no increase, the decline was marginal: only 29,000.
The increase in the number of foreign-born people working in the US this summer, 668,000, is the highest jump between July and August in a decade. The only period from July to August that came close was during the height of the pandemic in 2020: 605,000.
Although there can often be a lull in employment during the summer months and during the winter period from December to January, the decline this year is greater than in previous periods (stock image)
What the numbers suggest is that there has been a net increase in jobs created among natives since the Covid economic crisis. The labor market is just reaching its peak of October 2019, when employment was 131.72 million.
The trends also seem to point to fewer foreign-born people working in the US under Donald Trump month over month, the Bureau’s data shows.
Comparing the numbers for the first three years of each of their terms, the Republican president’s foreign-born workforce grew by 752,000 between August 2017 and 2019.
In contrast, Democrat Biden’s figure from August 2021 to 2023 was 3.943 million.
During the Trump presidency, between July and August 2017, overseas employment increased by just 82,000.
The foreign workforce of 668,000 in 2023 is a whopping eightfold — against the backdrop of the Biden administration’s scrutiny of movement across the U.S.-Mexico border since the end of Pandemic-era Title 42 in May.
Between July and August 2018, employment abroad increased by 168,000, and in 2019 the corresponding figure was 132,000.
According to the Labor Statistics BureauForeign-born people are those who live in the United States and were not U.S. citizens at birth, and do not have U.S.-citizen parents.
While August hiring was strong by historic standards, with 187,000 new jobs added, employment growth averaged just 150,000 over the past three months, the lowest since October to December in 2019.
The 2023 foreign workforce of 668,000 is a whopping eightfold — against the backdrop of the Biden administration’s scrutiny of movement across the US-Mexico border since the end of Title 42 in the pandemic era in May (stock image )
The number of layoffs and the rate of hiring have also fallen to near or below pre-pandemic levels, while a statistic closely watched by the Fed – the number of job openings for every unemployed person – is in decline. July fell to 1.51. , the lowest since September 2021.
The downturn marks “a marked cooling of the job market,” said former Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren. “If this continues, we are probably at the peak of the interest rate cycle.”
The Fed has been rapidly raising its key overnight interest rates since March 2022, but is expected to keep them stable within the current range of 5.25%-5.50% at the September 20 meeting.
New economic projections released at the end of that meeting will reveal whether policymakers continue to expect an additional rate hike this year, but following the latest jobs data, investors have raised their bets against such a prospect.
Acting US Secretary of Labor Julie Su said the slower pace of job growth showed the economy was shifting from the “breakneck” recovery of pandemic-era job losses to “sustained stable, steady growth.”
She said, “This is really what you want to see if you’re looking for a ‘soft landing.’
She referred to the hope among Fed policymakers that they can bring still high inflation down to the central bank’s target of 2 percent without forcing the economy into recession or causing high unemployment rates.
While the unemployment rate rose by three-tenths of a percentage point to 3.8 percent in August, it remained well below the levels of 5 percent and above that have been normal in the US since World War II.
Moreover, this was driven by a jump of more than 700,000 in the number of available workers – a constructive dynamic that allows employment to grow without inflationary pressure on wages.
Fed officials hoped the labor market would cool, torn between rising wages and a good labor market improving the economic lot of workers and families and concerns that continued strong labor conditions could keep inflation high.
At least so far, the Fed is making gains there too, with data since the July meeting showing the pace of price increases slowing and the magnitude of inflation narrowing.