As President Joe Biden’s term nears its conclusion, data from the Federal Reserve’s Economic Data (FRED) highlights a significant gap in employment recovery between native-born and foreign-born workers. While the overall workforce has reached record numbers since December 2019, native-born employment remains 716,000 jobs below its pre-pandemic peak. In contrast, foreign-born employment has surged, surpassing pre-pandemic levels as early as 2021 and continuing to grow steadily, according to an analysis by The Daily Caller.
This uneven recovery has sparked concern among economists and policymakers. E.J. Antoni noted on Twitter that “all net job growth since December 2019 [has gone] to foreign-born workers,” emphasizing the divergent employment trends. While native-born employment has stagnated since 2022, foreign-born workers have returned to their pre-pandemic growth patterns.
The Biden administration has frequently credited its policies for driving economic recovery, citing the creation of over 1.6 million construction and manufacturing jobs during the president’s tenure. In December, the White House highlighted in a tweet that its economic strategies were “creating good-paying jobs for American workers.” However, the data shows that job recovery has not been evenly distributed across the labor force.
On Saturday, Biden doubled down, essentially asking Americans for a thank you for his great job handling the economy.
The economy I am leaving America is the best in the world, and stronger than ever for all Americans.
— President Biden (@POTUS) January 11, 2025
This employment gap between Americans and foreign-born workers intersects with ongoing debates about American immigration policies, including the H-1B visa program. Critics argue that such policies may disadvantage native-born workers by increasing competition from skilled foreign labor, potentially suppressing wages and limiting opportunities for workers born in the United States.
The context of these trends dates back to the unprecedented job losses triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. While foreign-born workers quickly regained lost jobs and surpassed pre-pandemic levels, native-born employment has struggled to recover at the same pace. By the end of Biden’s presidency, this disparity persisted despite the administration’s claims of record-low unemployment and robust job creation.
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