The foreign-born civilian population age 16 and over in the United States totaled 49.295 million in the 2025 annual average. Of that population, 31.321 million were employed, while 1.366 million were unemployed. These figures come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which uses “foreign born” for people living in the United States who were not U.S. citizens at birth.
Contents
- Current employment snapshot
- Employment by age and sex
- Employment by education
- Race and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity
- Occupations of immigrant workers
- Earnings and what the figures mean
Current employment snapshot
The BLS 2025 annual averages show the scale of immigrant participation in the U.S. labor market. The foreign-born labor force totaled 32.687 million people age 16 and over. The labor-force participation rate was 66.3%, meaning that roughly two-thirds of the foreign-born civilian noninstitutional population was either working or actively looking for work.
The employment-population ratio was 63.5%. This measure describes the share of the foreign-born population age 16 and over that was employed, whether or not the person was actively searching for another job. The foreign-born unemployment rate was 4.2%, based on 1.366 million unemployed people in the labor force.
The population base matters when interpreting these measures. The civilian noninstitutional population excludes people in institutions, and the labor force consists of employed people plus unemployed people who meet the survey definition of unemployment. Someone who is not working and is not counted as actively looking for work is outside the labor force rather than counted among the unemployed. That is why the participation rate and the unemployment rate answer different questions about employment conditions.
The 49.295 million foreign-born people in the population base therefore include more than the 32.687 million people in the labor force. The 31.321 million employed people are the portion of the labor force with jobs, while the 1.366 million unemployed people are the portion without jobs but in the labor force. The 63.5% employment-population ratio uses the larger population base, which makes it distinct from the 66.3% participation rate.
The BLS source for these figures is Labor Force Characteristics of Foreign-born Workers News Release - 2025 A01 Results. Its terminology is broader than “immigrant” in everyday use: foreign born includes legally admitted immigrants, refugees, temporary residents, and undocumented immigrants. The survey does not separately identify those groups.
Employment by age and sex
Age is closely associated with labor-force participation. Among foreign-born people ages 25 to 54, the labor-force participation rate was 81.2%, the employment-population ratio was 78.0%, and the unemployment rate was 3.9%. Within that broad working-age group, the labor-force participation rate was 79.0% for people ages 25 to 34. The employment-population ratio was 79.3% for those ages 35 to 44, while the unemployment rate was 3.5% for those ages 45 to 54.
Younger and older foreign-born people had lower participation levels in the annual average. Among those ages 16 to 24, the labor-force participation rate was 53.0%, the employment-population ratio was 48.1%, and the unemployment rate was 9.1%. For people ages 55 to 64, the employment-population ratio was 69.3%. Among foreign-born people age 65 and over, the labor-force participation rate was 21.4%.
The sex differences in the BLS measures were substantial:
| Foreign-born population group | Labor-force participation | Employment-population ratio |
|---|---|---|
| Men, age 16 and over | 76.9% | 73.9% |
| Women, age 16 and over | 56.2% | 53.7% |
These are 2025 annual averages for the foreign-born population age 16 and over. They describe participation and employment levels, not the reasons behind the differences.
Employment by educational attainment
For foreign-born people age 25 and over, the labor-force participation rate was 67.4% and the employment-population ratio was 64.8%. The BLS figures vary by the highest level of education reported.
Among foreign-born people age 25 and over with less than a high school diploma, the labor-force participation rate was 57.0% and the employment-population ratio was 54.1%. For those with a high school diploma and no college, the employment-population ratio was 61.7%.
The employment-population ratio was 66.7% for foreign-born people with some college or an associate degree. That group had a 3.2% unemployment rate. For people with a bachelor’s degree or higher, the labor-force participation rate was 74.2%, the employment-population ratio was 71.7%, and the unemployment rate was 3.4%.
| Educational attainment, foreign-born people age 25+ | Measure | 2025 annual average |
|---|---|---|
| Less than high school diploma | Labor-force participation rate | 57.0% |
| Less than high school diploma | Employment-population ratio | 54.1% |
| High school diploma, no college | Employment-population ratio | 61.7% |
| Some college or associate degree | Employment-population ratio | 66.7% |
| Some college or associate degree | Unemployment rate | 3.2% |
| Bachelor’s degree or higher | Labor-force participation rate | 74.2% |
| Bachelor’s degree or higher | Employment-population ratio | 71.7% |
| Bachelor’s degree or higher | Unemployment rate | 3.4% |
The categories measure educational attainment, while the labor-force and employment measures cover different concepts. A participation rate includes both employed and unemployed people who are in the labor force; an employment-population ratio includes employed people only.
Race and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity
The BLS release also reports labor-market measures for foreign-born groups by race and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity. Foreign-born Asian non-Hispanic or Latino people had a civilian labor force of 8.459 million, a labor-force participation rate of 64.8%, and an unemployment rate of 3.3%.
Foreign-born Hispanic or Latino people had a civilian labor force of 15.464 million. Their labor-force participation rate was 68.1%, and their unemployment rate was 4.4%.
For foreign-born Black non-Hispanic or Latino people, the labor-force participation rate was 70.4% and the unemployment rate was 5.9%. Foreign-born White non-Hispanic or Latino people had a 61.5% labor-force participation rate and a 3.9% unemployment rate.
These categories should be read as the BLS presents them. Race and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity are reported classifications, and the figures are not a ranking of individual workers or a measure of work quality.
Occupations of immigrant workers
Among employed foreign-born people, management, professional, and related occupations accounted for 36.8%. Professional and related occupations alone accounted for 22.0%. Within that broad category, computer and mathematical occupations accounted for 6.2% of employed foreign-born people, while healthcare practitioners and technical occupations accounted for 5.4%.
Service occupations accounted for 21.2%. Food preparation and serving related occupations represented 6.1%, and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance represented 7.0%.
Sales and office occupations accounted for 13.6% of employed foreign-born people. Natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations accounted for 13.3%, including 9.1% in construction and extraction occupations.
Production, transportation, and material moving occupations accounted for 15.1%. Transportation and material moving occupations alone accounted for 9.2%.
The occupation figures are percent distributions of employed foreign-born people. They are not unemployment rates, and the detailed percentages sit within broader occupational groupings; they should not be added together when one category is contained within another.
Earnings and what the figures mean
Full-time foreign-born wage and salary workers had median usual weekly earnings of $1,059 in the 2025 annual average. The median was $1,153 for full-time foreign-born men and $960 for full-time foreign-born women.
Median usual weekly earnings also varied by age among full-time foreign-born workers:
| Age group | Median usual weekly earnings |
|---|---|
| 25 to 34 | $1,079 |
| 35 to 44 | $1,184 |
| 45 to 54 | $1,114 |
| 55 to 64 | $1,028 |
These are medians, so they identify the midpoint of the reported earnings distribution rather than an average or a typical wage for every occupation. The earnings measure covers full-time wage and salary workers and is reported as usual weekly earnings.
The BLS annual estimates have an important measurement limitation. The 2025 annual averages are 11-month averages because October 2025 data were not collected during the federal government shutdown. BLS warns that these estimates are not strictly comparable with annual averages for other years. The employment-population and labor-force figures are annual averages; occupation shares are distributions of employed people; and earnings are median usual weekly earnings for full-time wage and salary workers.