What percent of jobs in the Boston, MA area are held by immigrants?

Data updated May 22, 2024
About 24.0% of jobs in the Boston, MA area in 2022. Immigrants are defined as foreign-born residents, including those who became US citizens, are authorized to work in the US, or are undocumented residents.
Showing data for
In 2022

4 in 17

employed workers were immigrants
In 2022

24%

of employed workers were immigrants
In the Boston, MA area, immigrants hold 24.0% of jobs, while they make up 23.0% of the total working-age population. This indicates a slightly higher employment rate than expected. The working-age population includes everyone aged 16 and above.

In 2022, a larger percentage of jobs were held by immigrants in the Boston, MA area than the US average

Immigrant participation in the workforce varies across industries. In the Boston, MA area, the largest gap between foreign-born and native-born workers was in the manufacturing industry, where 11.5% of the foreign-born working-age population were employed compared to 8.3% of native-born workers. This highlights a significant gap in employment between foreign-born and native-born workers in the manufacturing industry.

The percentage of employed people varies between different sectors

Percentage of employed population in 2022

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The labor force participation rate — the percentage of the working-age population working or actively seeking work — for immigrants in the Boston, MA area was 71.5%, higher than the 67.6% rate for the native-born population. This shows that immigrants were participating in the labor force at a higher rate than the native-born population in the state.

The percentage of jobs held by immigrants varies by metro area

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