As Congress reopened immigration debate Thursday, new data indicated immigrants are bearing the brunt of economic hard times.
Immigrants in Colorado are particularly hard-hit, according to an analysis of government census data by the Center for Immigration Studies.
The number of foreign-born workers employed in Colorado decreased by 20 percent to 252,000 in the first quarter of 2009, from 315,000 in the third quarter of 2007, the analysis found.
By comparison, the number of U.S.-born workers employed in Colorado decreased by 0.8 percent, to 2.28 million from 2.29 million, the analysis found.
Jobless rates similar
Released Thursday, the analysis was based on the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey — a primary source of workforce data. Researchers looked at numbers of workers employed as well as joblessness rates, which are based on the percentage of workers seeking employment who can’t find it (9.7 percent for immigrants, versus 8.6 percent for U.S.-born workers).
CIS researchers compared the most recent available numbers of workers employed with data from the third quarter of 2007, when the recession began.
Other states where immigrant employment decreased sharply include Georgia (19.6 percent), North Carolina (18.8 percent), Arizona (17.8 percent), Nevada (16.5 percent) and California (12.3 percent).
Nationwide, the number of employed immigrants decreased by about 9 percent, or about 2.1 million workers, since 2007. By contrast, the number of employed U.S.-born workers decreased by about 4 percent, or 4.5 million workers.
“There’s now this huge pool of unemployed immigrants seeking work in Colorado and nationally,” said Steve Camarota, director of research for CIS, a think tank in Washington, D.C., that advocates reduced immigration.
“Each year, we let in over 1 million new immigrant workers,” he said. “The question is: Should we continue to do that?”
Some may have gone home
Previously, U.S.-born workers had unemployment rates as high or higher than immigrants in many parts of the country. Immigration analysts say that low-skilled workers from Mexico and Central America have been especially hard-hit and that some may be returning home, only to find more hard conditions.
This week as senators began exploring the feasibility of immigration reforms, some experts are calling for a mechanism that could fine-tune immigration levels in response to workforce needs.
“More frequent adjustment” of immigration flows “would mean we could get the workers we need during prosperous times and reduce competition with native workers in less prosperous times,” said Randy Capps, senior analyst at the Migration Policy Institute. “We also could cut down on the unauthorized workers.”
Bruce Finley: 303-954-1700 or bfinley@denverpost.com
