Labor Market Exclusion for Many U.S.-Born Workers

Recent analysis reveals that millions of prime-age Americans born on the mainland are still shut out from the labor market.

Researchers Steven Camarota and Karen Zeigler from the Center for Immigration Studies have highlighted that the rate of people of working age not participating in the workforce is historically high.

Surprisingly, only 11.3 percent of working-age men were out of the labor force. At present, though, over 21 percent of these men are not engaged in any economic activity.

When looking at men aged 25 to 54—generally considered to be in their strongest career years—more than 11 percent are unemployed. Back in 1960, that number was just 4%. Essentially, their research concludes that over the past 65 years, millions of American men have left the workforce.

“If the same percentage of U.S.-born men (ages 16 to 64) were participating in the labor market in 2025 as in 1960, we would have seen more than 8.9 million of them enter the workforce,” Camarota and Zeigler point out. “Even a return to 2000 participation levels would mean an addition of 4.1 million U.S.-born men to the labor market.”

Researchers argue that the ongoing influx of over a million green card holders annually to fill job vacancies isn’t warranted in light of the rising number of able-bodied Americans not actively participating in the labor market.

This issue ties directly into the immigration debate. Advocates for substantial legal and even illegal immigration often argue that there aren’t enough workers to fill available jobs. However, to make that case, one must overlook the significant number of working-age Americans who are absent from the labor force, along with the societal issues stemming from this.

To tackle these challenges, the researchers have suggested a range of reforms that could be implemented by the government, such as welfare reform, addressing the opioid crisis, reassessing the nation’s approach to globalization, and, critically, reducing legal immigration levels.

“As a nation, we face a decision: we can either choose policies that aim to reintegrate sidelined working-age Americans into the job market, or we can continue to overlook the problem while allowing more immigrants to enter, which may only exacerbate the consequences of the growing number of working-age Americans outside the labor force,” Camarota and Zeigler warn.