All Tennessee's Employment Growth Since 2000 Has Gone to Immigrants; Yet, Natives Accounted for 60% of Population Growth

 

WASHINGTON, Aug. 4, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Gang of Eight immigration bill (S.744) passed by the U.S. Senate last June, and voted for by both Tennessee senators - Lamar Alexander (R) and Bob Corker (R), would have roughly doubled the number of new foreign workers allowed into the country, as well as legalized illegal immigrants. To put into context the possible effects of this legislation on Tennessee, the Center for Immigration Studies has analyzed recent government data on employment.

The analysis shows that, since 2000, all of the net increase in the number of working-age (16 to 65) people holding a job in Tennessee has gone to immigrants (legal and illegal). This is the case even though the native-born accounted for 60 percent of the growth in the state's total working-age population.

Among the findings:

• The total number of working-age (16 to 65) immigrants (legal and illegal) holding a job in Tennessee increased by 94,000 from the first quarter of 2000 to the first quarter of 2014, while the number of working-age native-born Americans with a job declined 47,000 over the same time.
   
• The fact that all the long-term net gain in employment among the working-age went to immigrants is striking because the native-born accounted for 60 percent of the increase in the total size of the state's working-age population.
   
• In the first quarter of this year, only 66 percent of working-age natives in the state held a job. As recently as 2000, 72 percent of working-age natives in Tennessee were working.
   
• Because the native-born population in Tennessee grew significantly, but the percentage working fell, there were nearly 300,000 more working-age natives not working in the first quarter of 2014 than in 2000.
   
• There exists a very large supply of potential workers in Tennessee; in the first quarter of 2014, 1.3 million working-age natives were not working (unemployed or entirely out of the labor market) as were 90,000 working-age immigrants.
   
• While the share of working-age natives holding a job has improved in Tennessee somewhat since the jobs recovery began in 2010, the share working showed no improvement in the last year.
   
• Relative to other states, Tennessee ranked 30^th in the nation in terms of the share of working-age natives holding a job in the first quarter of 2014.
   
• In terms of the labor-force participation rate (share working or looking for work) among working-age natives, the state ranked 35^th in the nation.
   
• Two key conclusion from the state's employment situation:
   
  • First, the long-term decline in the employment of natives in Tennessee and the enormous number of working-age natives not working clearly indicates that there is no general labor shortage in the state. Thus it is very difficult to justify the large increases in foreign workers (skilled and unskilled) allowed into the country by a bill like S.744, which many of Tennessee's politicians support.
     
  • Second, Tennessee's working-age immigrant population grew 176 percent from 2000 to 2014, one of the highest rates of any state in the nation. Yet, the number of natives working in 2014 was actually lower than in 2000. This undermines the argument that immigration on balance increases job opportunities for natives.

"It's remarkable that any political leader in Tennessee would support legislation that would increase the number of foreign workers allowed into the country, given the relatively weak job growth in the state and the large share of working-age people not working," observed Steven Camarota, the Center's Director of Research.

The Center for Immigration Studies is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit research organization founded in 1985. It is the nation's only think tank devoted exclusively to research and policy analysis of the economic, social, demographic, fiscal, and other impacts of immigration on the United States.