Sixteen Percent Of All U.S. Workers Are Foreign-Born

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/12525

Submitted by Doug Cunningham on December 9, 2009 - 5:40pm
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Sixteen percent of U.S. workers are now foreign-born. Jesse Russell has more.

According to new census data one in six American workers is foreign-born. In 1970s the number of foreign-born workers had dropped to 5 percent in part due to strict immigration rules, but during the last 30 years the number has jumped to 16 percent – close to the 1910 high of 21 percent. According to the census bureau 2007 saw foreign-born workers occupying 35 percent of jobs in California, 27 percent in New York, 26 percent in New Jersey, and 25 percent in Nevada. When singled out the numbers reveal that 28 percent of workers with doctoral degrees in the United States are foreign-born. Asian, European, and African immigrants are most likely to be in professional occupations, while immigrants from Latin America are more likely to be in agricultural and construction trades.