In 2023, close to a fifth of the workforce was foreign-born: out of the 160.2 million people in the US workforce, about 29.7 million were immigrants. That’s an increase from 2010, when immigrants made up 15.6% of the workforce.
Immigrants are employed across industries, with concentrations in education, health, and professional services.
Which industries employ the most immigrants?
Educational and health services employed the most immigrants— 5.5 million, or 18.4% of all foreign-born employees in 2023. This is followed by professional and business services with 4.7 million (15.8%) and construction with 3.3 million (11.1%).
Educational and health services employed the highest number of native-born workers, too – 31.4 million people, or almost 25% of all native Americans in the workforce.
Wholesale and retail trades employ another 12.6%, and professional and business services ranks third with 12.1%.
The mining industry had the lowest number of both foreign-born and native-born people: it employed around 74,000 foreign-born workers in 2023, about 0.2% of employed immigrants, and about 517,000 native Americans (0.4%).
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Which industries have the highest percentage of immigrants in their workforces?
The construction industry had the highest percentage of immigrant workers in 2023: an estimated 3.3 million, or 28.6% of all the people employed by that industry.
The second-largest percentage of immigrant workers was in professional and business services, at 22.9%. The third highest was “Other services” — a broad category that includes a range of services like auto repair, barber and beauty salons, and religious organizations — at 21.9%.
Which industries have had the most growth in immigrant employment?
The number of immigrants employed grew in every industry, except two, between 2010 and 2023, with numbers growing faster in some sectors than others. The most substantial growth was in the transportation and utilities, professional and business services, and construction industries, all of which saw the size of their foreign-born workforces increase by at least 5 percentage points.
Immigrant employment dropped in two industries: agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting and leisure and hospitality.
Are these industries where native-born employee numbers are declining?
By 2023, every industry employed more foreign-born people than in 2010. Employment of native-born people also increased across most industries, except for three: mining (-15.0%), information (-7.2%), and wholesale and retail trade (-3.5%).
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Page sources and methodology
All of the data on the page was sourced directly from government agencies. The analysis and final review was performed by USAFacts.
Census Bureau
Current Population Survey: 2023 Annual Social and Economic (ASEC) Supplement
