Born in the USA - and Not Working

Dec. 11, 2009
Calling the situation "particularly bad for minorities, the young and less-educated Americans," the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) released a research report finding that there are 21 million native-born Americans who are either unemployed, want to ...

Calling the situation "particularly bad for minorities, the young and less-educated Americans," the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) released a research report finding that there are 21 million native-born Americans who are either unemployed, want to work but have not looked for a job recently, or are involuntarily working part-time. This group is referred to as the U-6 measure. Of that total, 12.5 million are unemployed.

CIS said that using the U-6 measure, there are 10.4 million native-born Americans with a high-school education or less who are out of work and another 18.7 million not in the labor force, which the research group said means "they are not looking for work." Together, CIS said these "less-educated" natives total 29.1 million.

CIS said the situation is also particularly bad for minorities and the young. It noted, for example, that the U-6 rate for native-born Americans with a high-school education was 31.2% for those18-29, 39.8% for blacks and 33.9% for Hispanics.

CIS said these workers "face the most competition from immigrants - legal and illegal." It noted that there are an estimated 7-8 million illegal immigrants holding jobs in the United States.

The study, "A Huge Pool of Potential Workers: Unemployment, Underemployment and Non-Work Among Native-Born Americans," is authored by CIS Director of Research Steven A. Camarota and Demographer Karen Jensenius.

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An award-winning editor, Executive Editor Steve Minter covers global economic and international trade issues, tackling subject matter ranging from manufacturing trends, public policy and regulations in developed and emerging markets to global regulation and currency exchange rates. As well, he supervises content production of all IW editorial products including the magazine, IndustryWeek.com, research and informationproducts, and executive conferences. 

Before joining the IW staff, Steve was publisher and editorial director of Penton Media’s EHS Today, where he was instrumental in the development of the Champions of Safety and America’s Safest Companies recognition programs.

Steve received his B.A. in English from Oberlin College. He is married and has two children.

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