Immigration has historically been an important driver of U.S. population growth and immigrants are a significant share of the nation’s workers: About 45 million foreign-born people lived in the United States in 2022, making up about 14 percent of the U.S. population and around 17 percent of the labor force. Our posts cover research on the impacts of changing immigration policies; the contributions of immigrants to economic growth; how immigration affects the wages of native-born workers; the contribution of immigrants to government coffers as well as their use of public benefits; among other topics.
January 27, 2020
Under the new public charge rule, usage of Medicaid and SNAP would be considered for some immigration decisions. The reduction in spending would be non-trivial.
January 13, 2020
There is evidence that the impact of increased enforcement and deportations had ripple effects on the employment and safety net participation of citizens.
December 11, 2019
Secure Communities led to a large increase in immigrant deportations between 2008-2014. Research does not find evidence that this reduced rates of serious crime.
July 24, 2019
Individuals lacking legal status face obstacles that limit their job options and lower their productivity.
June 11, 2019
The Public Charge rule would change the way immigrants access U.S. public benefits. An underlying assumption is that immigrants are a burden on native-born taxpayers. But is this true?
May 8, 2019
There is significant turnover among foreign workers who come to the U.S. Those most likely to leave had lower earnings and tended to see earnings fall before they left.
November 2, 2018
As the political debate over immigration continues, this video highlights where economists agree, and disagree on the economic impact of immigration in the U.S.
October 18, 2018
Because of stricter border enforcement, undocumented immigrants are less likely to come and go, more likely to settle and to have been in the U.S. for ten years or more.
April 3, 2018
Proposed new rules for immigration would make use of non-cash benefits count negatively for legal permanent residence, potentially impacting many U.S. children.