Study: New Jobs in Texas Went to Immigrants

A study released by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), an independent research organization with a "low-immigration, pro-immigrant" vision, found that most of the jobs created in Texas during the recent economic downturn went to immigrants rather than workers born in the United States. The study, "Who Benefited from Job Growth in Texas?," examined data from the Current Population Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau.

According to CIS, 81 percent of jobs created in Texas since 2007 went to newly arrived immigrant workers, legal and illegal. Specifically, some 225,000 of the 279,000 jobs created between the second quarter of 2007 and the second quarter of 2011 went to immigrants who arrived in the United States in 2007 or later.
Demographics do not account for the disparity, the authors contend, because those born in the United States accounted for 69 percent of the growth in Texas’ working-age population during the same period. In fact, the share of working-age natives holding a job in Texas fell from 71 percent in 2007 to 67 percent in 2011, a decline that tracks with employment trends in the rest of the United States. "The situation for native-born workers in Texas is very similar to the overall situation in the country despite the state’s job growth," the authors conclude.

To read the full study, visit http://tinyurl.com/study-CIS.

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