As Layoffs Mount, Immigration Supply Far Outpaces Demand

A darkening employment picture is disrupting the pro-immigration narrative. With large layoffs under way, and more in the offing, the perpetual whining on the part of business advocacy groups about a dearth of workers is losing its mojo, or at least it should be.

Layoff announcements spiked in September, with job cuts up 46 percent from the month before. Meanwhile, the number of companies announcing hiring plans fell to the lowest level in more than a decade. As new jobless claims rise, the total number of workers now on unemployment climbed to 5.8 million.

In September, the U.S. was home to 29.4 million foreign-born workers (up from 24.4 million two years ago). The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) reported last year that 1 million of them were unemployed, and that 8.9 million working-age legal immigrants weren’t even in the labor force. (These statistics do not include the 15.5 million illegal aliens FAIR estimated were in this country at the end of 2021, much less the millions more who have entered since then.)

Pointing to the increase in jobless Americans – along with the legions of non-working legal immigrants – CIS concluded: “There would seem to be an enormous supply of potential workers for employers to draw on. This is especially true among the less-educated.”

Meantime, higher-skill positions are also in shorter supply as tech companies – major users of H-1 work visas – scale back employment. Dozens of firms have announced layoffs or hiring freezes in recent weeks. Last week, Meta (Facebook) said it was reducing headcounts for the first time in its history.

As recession looms and Americans grapple with the worst inflation in 40 years, will news reporters face up to reality and start to factor Washington’s ruinous mass immigration policies into the deteriorating employment equation?