Who Got Jobs During the Obama Presidency? Native and Immigrant Employment Growth, 2009 to 2012

A new analysis of government data shows that two-thirds of the net increase in employment since President Obama took office has gone to immigrant workers, primarily legal immigrants.
 

• Since President Obama took office, 67 percent of employment growth has gone to immigrants (legal and illegal).
   
• There were 1.94 million more immigrants (legal and illegal) working in the third quarter of 2012 than at the start of 2009, when the president took office. This compares to a 938,000 increase for natives over the same time period.
   
• Most of the immigrant growth in employment was the result of new immigration, rather than immigrants already in the country taking jobs. Some 1.6 million new immigrant workers arrived from abroad since the start of 2009 — we estimate 70 to 90 percent entered legally.
   
• Immigrants made employment gains across the labor market. In occupations where immigrant gains were the largest, there were 2.2 million unemployed natives.

Compiled and published by Steven A. Camarota is the Director of Research and Karen Zeigler is a Demographer at the Center for Immigration Studies, November 2012

Read full report here:  http://cis.org/who-got-jobs-during-obama-presidency