TAHLEQUAH, Oklahoma – Foreign-born workers are fast becoming the reason for the U.S. economy’s rebound since the pandemic, and analysts say the declining population of U.S.-born workers is also a factor.
According to an analysis by Economic Policy Institute, between January 2023 and January 2024, immigrants made up about 50% of the labor market’s recent growth.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the population of the U.S. is growing more slowly than in recent decades. The population is also growing older, states the site.
“Because population is the single most important factor in determining the size and composition of the labor force, the declining growth of the labor force is more a result of the declining growth rate of the population over the years,” states the site about the labor force of U.S.-born citizens.
Dr. Sanchari Ghosh, economics professor at Northeastern State University, addressed the information on this topic featured in a Washington Post article by Rachel Siegel, Lauren Kaori Gurley and Meryl Kornfield, titled “The economy is roaring; immigration is the key reason.”
Immigrants tend to be more resilient, in Ghosh’s opinion – more so when they have to work so hard.
“They also accept lower wages, and fill jobs – post-pandemic – that native-born workers may not want to do,” Ghosh said.
Pia Orrenius, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said immigration has not slowed; in fact, it has been astronomical.
“And that’s been instrumental. You can’t grow like this with just the native workforce. It’s not possible,” said Orrenius, as quoted in the article.
Ghosh both agrees and disagrees. Immigration helps promote economic growth, but the economist does not specify whether the workers spoken of are skilled or unskilled.
“Skilled immigrants are able to do certain jobs in the services industry, since they have the necessary background in science, technology, engineering and math,” Ghosh said. “It is difficult to say the same for unskilled immigrants, although they help in jobs that the native workforce will probably not want to do, at a lower pay.”
As an example, Ghosh pointed out the influx of migrants to the state of California who work in the produce industry.
“Immigration does help growth in certain sectors on which the American economy is highly dependent, like technology, and so I think the statement may be valid to some extent,” Ghosh said.
There has been a recent push in the political arena to close the borders and stop the influx of so many immigrants from entering the U.S. Undocumented immigrants made up 22% of the foreign-born U.S. population in 2021, according to the Pew Research Center.
The Congressional Budget Office projects the U.S. population will increase from 342 million people in 2024 to 383 million people in 2054.
“Net immigration increasingly drives population growth, accounting for all population growth beginning in 2040,” states the site.
Immigration does sometimes hurt the domestic workforce, if immigrants dominate some service sectors, Ghosh said.
“However, it rarely pushes wages down for domestic workers unless it’s a very labor intensive job,” Ghosh said. “I believe the political pressure stems from some disconnect in determining the impact of immigration across sectors. There is growth in some, but some sectors are also growing without immigration, like research and development and arts and culture, etc.”
According to the Oklahoma Policy Institute in an article titled, “Supporting immigration will boost Oklahoma’s economy,” by Gabriela Ramirez-Perez Sept. 21, 2022, immigrants are an integral part of Oklahoma’s economy.
“They work in essential industries, create jobs by starting businesses, care for our aging population, and contribute to the public services upon which we all rely by paying taxes,” states the article.
Industries that have large numbers of immigrant workers are poultry, farm, cleaning or housekeeping, Ghosh said.
“My personal belief is immigrants come from countries where they have already seen jobs done in a labor-intensive way, and so they can be hired at a lower cost here in the U.S.,” Ghosh said.
A common conception of employers is that the pandemic started a trend toward early retirement or people deciding not to rejoin the workforce once the all-clear was given to return to offices and other workplaces.
“After the pandemic, we did face a great resignation – people not wanting to come back to work, since they got used to remote work,” Ghosh said. “Either the stimulus money or working on [their] own businesses made people reluctant to come back.”
Oklahoma will benefit from immigration and has made great progress in encouraging the entry of skilled workers by strengthening the STEM disciplines, Ghosh said.
“I see so much being done to improve higher education structure to motivate domestic and international students, and so it will be good for the state,” Ghosh said.
Research from “New American Economy” on the Tulsa area in 2019 showed the immigrant share of population was 7.1%; had a spending power of $1.5 billion; paid $537.4 million in taxes; and made up 6,293 of the entrepreneurial efforts in the area. According to the U.S. Census, between 2018-2022 the foreign-born share of population in Tulsa was 11.2%.
“You just have to look at the Tulsa metropolitan area to see how things are changing in terms and immigration and growth, along with the city’s own development,” Ghosh said.