According to a Pew Research Center study of early Census Bureau data released on August 21, more than 1.2 million immigrants left the U.S. workforce between January and the end of July. The number of people born outside the U.S. also went down. It went from a record 53.3 million in January 2025 to 51.9 million by June. This was the first time the number has gone down steadily since the 1960s.
According to Pew, immigrants made up 15.4% of U.S. residents in June, down from a previous high of 15.8% in January. Immigrants accounted up 19% of the workforce, down from 20%, which is more than 750,000 fewer workers since the beginning of the year.
The change comes after a time when record numbers of people came in in 2023 and early 2024. Pew notes that some policy changes may be affecting the pattern. For example, there were new restrictions on asylum applications announced in June 2024, and since January 2025, there have been a lot of enforcement operations to stop new arrivals and speed up removals. The full effects are still happening.
Pew warns that part of the apparent reduction could be due to fewer immigrants responding to surveys. The United States, a country of opportunity has still more immigrants than any other country.
According to the most recent thorough data, Mexico is still the place where most U.S. immigrants were born (22%). India, China, the Philippines, and Cuba are sharing 6%,6%,4% and 3% respectively. Longer-term data suggest that immigration flows have gotten bigger and more varied since 1965, with more people coming from Latin America and Asia.
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