Which industries employ the most immigrant workers?
About 5.6 million foreign-born workers — nearly a fifth of the immigrant workforce — work in education and health services.
In 2024, close to 20% of the US workforce was foreign-born; of 161.1 million employees, about 30.8 million were immigrants. In 2010, immigrants were 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 organizations employed the most immigrants — 5.6 million in 2024, 18.1% of all foreign-born employees. This was followed by professional and business services with 4.7 million (15.4%) and construction with 3.5 million (11.4%).
Educational and health services employ the largest number of foreign-born workers.
Employed foreign-born workers, by industry, 2024
(Educational and health services also employed the most native-born workers — 32.0 million people, almost 25% of all native-born Americans in the workforce. Wholesale and retail trades employed another 12.5%, and professional and business services ranked third with 12.3%.)
The mining industry employed the lowest numbers of both foreign- and native-born people: around 74,000 foreign-born workers, about 0.2% of employed immigrants, and about 455,000 native-born Americans (0.3%).
Which industries have the highest percentage of immigrants in their workforces?
The construction industry employed the largest percentage of immigrants in 2024: an estimated 29.8% of its workers, 3.5 million people.
The second-largest percentage of immigrant workers was transportation and utilities, at 24.4%, followed by “Other services” — a broad category including a range of services like auto repair, beauty and personal care, and religious activities — at 22.8%.
Construction has the biggest share of foreign-born workers.
Percent of industry that is foreign-born, 2024
Which industries have had the most growth in immigrant employment?
The concentration of immigrants employed grew in every industry but one between 2010 and 2024, faster in some sectors than others.
An increase in concentration means that the hiring of foreign-born people outpaced hiring of native-born Americans. The most substantial growth was in transportation and utilities, construction, mining, and professional and business services; in each, the concentration of foreign-born workers increased by at least 5 percentage points.
Concentration remained the same in one industry: leisure and hospitality.
The share of foreign-born workers grew the most in transportation and utilities.
Share of industry employment that is foreign-born, 2010–2024
Are these industries where native-born employee numbers are declining?
By 2024, every industry but three employed more foreign-born people and more native-born people than in 2010. The three with decreased native-born employees were mining (-25.2%), information (-14.4%), and wholesale and retail trade (-4.2%).
Three industries lost native-born workers from 2010 to 2024.
Percent change in native-born workers and foreign-born workers, 2010–2024
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