The American workforce is becoming more American.
The June jobs report showed that the foreign-born labor force has fallen sharply over the past year, a sign that President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration is reshaping the composition of the U.S. labor market.
The number of foreign-born people in the labor force fell by 700,000 from June of last year, dropping from 32.6 million to 31.9 million, according to data released Thursday by the Department of Labor. The foreign-born civilian population fell by 571,000, from 49.1 million to 48.6 million.
That marks a significant reversal from the labor market of recent years, when a surge of immigration under the Biden administration rapidly expanded the foreign-born workforce. The latest numbers suggest that the Trump administration’s border and enforcement policies are now beginning to unwind that shift.
The sex breakdown makes the shift even more striking. The number of foreign-born men in the civilian population plunged by 1.14 million over the year. The foreign-born male labor force fell by 970,000, and foreign-born male employment dropped by 812,000.
Foreign-born women moved in the opposite direction. Their civilian population rose by 568,000, their labor force increased by 271,000, and employment rose by 305,000. This suggests that Trump’s immigration crackdown may be having less impact on female-heavy service sectors, such as child care and health care, than on sectors more dependent on foreign-born men.
The native-born labor force also declined over the past year, falling by 445,000 to 138.3 million, largely reflecting older Americans retiring. But the underlying population trend moved in the opposite direction: the native-born civilian population increased by more than 2.1 million.
Employment followed the same pattern. Native-born male employment declined by 962,000, while native-born female employment rose by 308,000.
The overall result is a labor market that is becoming more native-born, even as total labor-force growth weakens. The foreign-born share of the labor force fell from roughly 19.0 percent in June 2025 to 18.7 percent in June 2026.
That is a positive development for American workers. For years, businesses benefited from a large inflow of foreign labor, especially men, that expanded the available workforce, reduced pressure to compete for workers already here, and helped sustain lower-wage business models.
Now that process is going into reverse. Employers will have to rely more heavily on Americans already in the country, pay more attention to retention, and invest more in productivity rather than simply drawing on a growing pool of imported labor.
The Department of Labor data do not make distinctions between illegal immigrants, recent immigrants, temporary visa holders, longer-term legal immigrants, and naturalized citizens. All are grouped as “foreign born.” It’s likely that the declines in the foreign-born labor force, population, and ranks of the employed have been driven by the exit of illegal immigrants and the halting of new unauthorized arrivals.
The unemployment rate fell to 4.2 percent in June, a sign that fewer workers in the U.S. who want to work are out of a job. The foreign-born unemployment rate, which is not seasonally adjusted, has plunged to 3.6 percent due to a decline in the participation rate, the share of the population who is actively involved in the labor force.
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