Half of All New Jobs Going to Immigrants, Analysis Finds; Surprisingly Strong US Jobs Report — Adding 272,000 Jobs in May — Stokes Immigration Controversy

Half of all new jobs going to immigrants, analysis finds:

Roughly half of the new jobs created in the U.S. economy since October have gone to immigrants, many of them in the country illegally, according to a new analysis by the House Budget Committee.

The Labor Department released its latest employment data Friday showing the economy added jobs, but the overall labor participation rate ticked down and the unemployment rate ticked up to 4%.

“Furthermore, nearly half of all job growth since October can be attributed to various immigrant groups, including illegal immigrants, showing a far weaker economy than suggested,” the GOP-led budget committee said.

The foreign-born population filled 840,000 new jobs from November to now, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The role of migrants in the labor force looms large in the political debate.

Democrats have pleaded for the migrants to take jobs since large cities have been swamped with illegal immigrants settling in their jurisdictions and relying on government assistance after being caught and released by the Biden administration.

Economists say the migrant labor is good for the overall U.S. economy, boosting productivity and raising the country’s gross domestic product. It’s not so good for the average worker, particularly for those who end up having to compete with illegal immigrants.

Those are generally less-educated Americans on the lower-income rungs. —>READ MORE HERE (or HERE)

Surprisingly strong US jobs report — adding 272,000 jobs in May — stokes immigration controversy:

The American labor market continues to show surprising strength — and the latest numbers are sparking fresh controversy over the role of immigration.

The US economy added a whopping 272,000 jobs last month — far more than the 180,000 jobs that economists had expected — and some commentators say the continued influx of migrants over the US-Mexico border is a key reason for the upside.

“There’s an immigration piece to this,” CNBC’s senior economics reporter Steve Liesman said on Friday morning after the numbers were released.

“There are bodies available, and there is work for them to do,” Liesman said. “Whether or not they’re here legally or not is a different story.”

The Labor Department’s data for May showed that while the number of native-born workers in the US dropped by 300,000 versus a year ago to 130.4 million, the number of foreign-born workers rose by 637,000 from last year to 30.9 million.

News of the robust hiring sent stocks tumbling early Friday trades as it makes it less likely that the Federal Reserve will slash interest rates anytime soon. In addition to the blowout payroll numbers, wages rose an unexpectedly strong 4.1%.

In April, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said an upside of increased immigration has enabled the US economy to add more jobs without triggering a big spike in wages, and thereby inflation.

On Friday, however, pro-Trump superPAC Maga Inc. said the Labor Department’s latest employment report “paints a dire picture for the American economy” where “immigrants win while native-born Americans lose.”

Labor Department data released Friday also showed that the unemployment rate for foreign-born workers was 3.4% versus 3.8% for native-born workers. The foreign-born labor participation rate was also more favorable at 66.2% versus 61.6% for native-born workers.

Further complicating the economic picture on Friday, the unemployment rate edged up to 4%, from 3.9%. That ended a 27-month streak of unemployment below 4%, the Labor Department said — matching the longest such run since the late1960s.

Financial markets slashed the odds of a September rate cut, reducing the probability to about 53% from about 70% before the report, based on rate futures contracts. Traders now see roughly an even chance of two rate cuts by the end of 2024, versus about a 68% chance seen before the report. —>READ MORE HERE

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