Job Surge Still Elusive For Native Students

If the president wants students to notice the historic job growth that has occurred on his watch, he might want to put a freeze on H-1B visas, even while he’s building that wall. “The share of U.S.-born teenagers (16 to 19) in the labor force — working or looking for work — in the summer has been declining for more than two decades, long before the downturn that began in 2007,” Stephen Camarota and Karen Zeigler of the Center for Immigration Statistics (CIS) write. “We project that things will improve only slightly this summer.”

“At the same time as teenage employment has declined, the overall number of immigrants (legal and illegal) holding a job has more than doubled. The evidence indicates that immigration has likely accounted for a significant share of the decline in teen labor force participation. The decline in teen work is worrisome because research shows that those who do not hold jobs as teenagers often fail to develop the work habits necessary to function in the labor market, creating significant negative consequences for them later in life.”

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