Skip to content
Project 2025
Search

Latest Stories

Follow Us:
Top Stories
Protesters gather at the Wisconsin State Capitol, holding signs.

Trump's Water Policies Put America's Drinking Water at Risk

America at 250: A Country in Distress

America at 250: A Country in Distress

a house made of brown cardboard in a person's hands.

Homelessness Just Declined in the U.S.–Trump’s Plans Will Take Us Backwards.

Spectators on a stadium with USA playing.

Democracy Needs Citizens, Not Fans

Are 'almost all of the new jobs' in the U.S. 'going to illegals'?

Are 'almost all of the new jobs' in the U.S. 'going to illegals'?
Ava Menkes
By Ava MenkesJun 27, 2024
Ava Menkes
Ava Menkes, Wisconsin Watch is a contributor for The Fulcrum, a nonpartisan publication dedicated to strengthening democracy by fostering informed civic engagement and elevating diverse perspectives.
See More Writings by author

This fact brief was originally published by Wisconsin Watch. Read the original here. Fact briefs are published by newsrooms in the Gigafact network, and republished by The Fulcrum. Visit Gigafact to learn more.

Are 'almost all of the new jobs' in the US 'going to illegals'?

No.

About 150,000 foreigners make unauthorized entry to the United States each month, yet job growth far exceeds that.

Former President Donald Trump said at a June 18 rally in Racine, Wis., "almost all of the news jobs" in the U.S. are going to undocumented immigrants, but that's mathematically dubious at best.

All immigrants constitute 18.6 perent of the U.S. labor force. Studies have found the top industries employing undocumented workers are agriculture, construction and administrative support.

Employers created about 272,000 jobs in May, higher than the average monthly gain of 232,000. That figure excludes farm jobs. More than half of the jobs were in health care, government and hospitality.

There were roughly 10.5 million individuals living in the U.S. without legal status in 2021, or about 3 percent of the population. Federal law prohibits hiring undocumented immigrants.

The U.S. unemployment rate averaged 3.6 percent in 2023, the lowest rate in decades.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

New York Times The U.S. Economy Is Surpassing Expectations. Immigration Is One Reason.

Statista Annual unemployment rate U.S. 2023

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Unemployment rate inches up during 2023, labor force participation rises

Pew Research What we know about unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S.

AULA Blog Immigration as the Current Main Driver of Economic Growth in the U.S.

New American Economy Undocumented Immigrants and the U.S. Economy

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Total payroll employment up 272,000, health care up 68,000, in May 2024

Population Reference Bureau Immigration to the United States


Latest news

Happy teacher asking girl with hand raised sitting in classroom at elementary school
Education

When It Comes to Our Children’s Education, Trump Gets An ‘F’

How My Benzodiazepine Experience Impacted the Trust I Have in the Healthcare System
Health

How My Benzodiazepine Experience Impacted the Trust I Have in the Healthcare System

Constitution of the United State with the U.S. flag in the background.
Democracy

Our Framers on 21st Century Primaries and Polarization

Are State Courts More Protective of Transgender People than Federal Courts?
Rule of Law

Are State Courts More Protective of Transgender People than Federal Courts?

Read More

“A Huge Grab of Power”: Trump Is Defying Congress on Foreign Aid
Photo illustration by Mark Harris for ProPublica. Photos by Getty Images.

“A Huge Grab of Power”: Trump Is Defying Congress on Foreign Aid

After the Trump administration upended the world’s largest foreign aid provider last year, terminating thousands of programs and firing nearly all of its staff, its plan for the agency was clear: Eliminate it entirely.

But because it is a congressionally created agency, President Donald Trump needed lawmakers’ permission to do so. So this year, Trump officials asked Congress for permission to shutter the U.S. Agency for International Development and dramatically reduce federal spending on food, medicine and lifesaving work around the world.

Keep ReadingShow less
President's Trump National Address On Iran Is Watched By New Yorkers In Manhattan

People watch as US President Donald Trump makes a national address on television at Brooklyn Diner Times Square on April 1, 2026 in New York City. US President Donald Trump's address to the nation is expected to lay out the framework for ending the conflict in Iran.

Adam Gray / Getty Images

When Duty Isn’t a Priority: A Megalomaniac President Abuses the Nation

What does it mean when the presidential oath becomes a performance instead of a promise? It means the nation is left vulnerable to a leader whose actions suggest that personal power may matter more than the Constitution he swore to defend.

He raised his right hand and swore to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution.” Yet millions of Americans have watched a president whose conduct repeatedly raises doubts about his commitment to that oath. His attacks on constitutional limits, his hostility toward oversight, and his tendency to treat institutional constraints as obstacles to personal objectives have led many to conclude that constitutional duty is no longer his governing priority. When the oath becomes symbolic rather than binding, the consequences are carried by the public.

Keep ReadingShow less
Why Democrats Are Running Against the ‘Epstein Class’

Graham Platner, the Democratic Senate nominee, is running a populist campaign with a focus on corruption and influence.

CJ Gunther/Getty Images

Why Democrats Are Running Against the ‘Epstein Class’

After Graham Platner secured the Democratic nomination for Senate in Maine, his first ad of the general election didn’t mention his opponent, Sen. Susan Collins, or the Republican Party. It focused on the late disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and who he called the “Epstein class” of elites in both parties.

“Some of the most powerful Democrats and Republicans in the country were on Epstein island,” Platner said in the ad, referring to Epstein’s former residence in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Platner, whose economic-populist campaign combined with controversial online statements and a since-removed tattoo of a Nazi symbol have drawn national attention, framed himself in opposition to this elite class.

Keep ReadingShow less
Trump’s second term is a murky, embarrassing and costly spectacle

U.S. President Donald Trump displays a graph entitled "Our Pool is Bigger than Skyscrapers" as he speaks on his renovations to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool during an event in the Oval Office of the White House on June 3, 2026, in Washington, D.C.

(Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images/TNS)

Trump’s second term is a murky, embarrassing and costly spectacle

Every time I get asked by a TV anchor what I think about the drama of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, my favorite “historical” headline from the Onion comes to mind: “World’s Largest Metaphor Hits Ice-Berg.”

And every time I do, I hear from defenders of the Trump administration complaining about the disproportionate media coverage of what should be a very minor story in the grand sweep of things. They have a point. President Trump has done some good work rehabbing Washington, D.C., where I live. But the Reflecting Pool has bedeviled him. Algae keep returning to the pool, despite the administration’s best efforts, and attempts to remedy the problem have yielded further problems.

Keep ReadingShow less
© Copyright 2026