From Bad to Worse: Unemployment and Underemployment Among Less-Educated U.S.-Born Workers, 2007 to 2010

By Steven A. Camarota
August 2010
Memorandums

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Steven A. Camarota is the Director of Research at the Center for Immigration Studies.

Less-educated, younger, and minority American workers face the worst job market in decades, far worse than their more educated counterparts. However the situation for these workers was very difficult even before the current recession began at the end of 2007. This report examines their employment situation in the second quarters of 2010 and 2007 (before the recession). Younger and less-educated workers are the most likely to be in competition with immigrants — legal and illegal. (Figures in this report are seasonally unadjusted.)

Among the findings:

Younger and less-educated natives often do the same jobs as immigrants. In the second quarter of 2010, in the occupations employing the most young and less-educated U.S.-born adults, one in five workers was an immigrant.


In the second quarter of 2010, the unemployment rate for U.S.-born adults who have not completed high school was 20.8 percent. But even in the second quarter of 2007, before the recession, it was 11.1 percent.


Using the broader measure of unemployment that includes those who want to work, but have not looked recently, and those forced to work part-time, the rate for those who haven’t completed high school was 29.3 percent in the second quarter of 2010 and 18.7 percent in the same quarter of 2007.


The unemployment rate for U.S.-born workers, ages 18 to 29, who have only a high school education was 20 percent in the second quarter of 2010 and 9.6 percent in 2007.


The broader measure of unemployment for 18- to 29-year-old U.S.-born workers with only a high school education was 29.2 percent in the second quarter of 2010 and 16.6 percent in 2007.

For U.S.-born minorities:

- black, less than high school, unemployment 2010: 29.0 percent; 2007: 17.4 percent
- black, less than high school, broader measure 2010: 39.8 percent; 2007: 27.6 percent

- black, high school only, young, unemployment 2010: 27.4 percent; 2007: 17.8 percent
- black, high school only, young, broader measure 2010: 37.8 percent; 2007: 25.6 percent

- Hispanic, less than high school, unemployment 2010: 22.9 percent; 2007: 12.8 percent
- Hispanic, less than high school, broader measure 2010: 32.4 percent; 2007: 20.6 percent

- Hispanic, high school only, young, unemployment 2010: 23.3 percent; 2007: 9.4 percent
- Hispanic, high school only, young, broader measure 2010: 33.0 percent; 2007: 16.0 percent

Teenagers are another group that also tends to compete with immigrants. In the second quarter of 2010, in the 25 occupations employing the most U.S.-born teenagers (16 and 17) one in five workers was an immigrant.

In the second quarter of 2010, the unemployment rate of U.S.-born teens (16 and 17) was 31 percent; it was 18.9 in second quarter of 2007.

If we examine the broader measure for U.S.-born teenagers, unemployment was 38 percent in the second quarter of 2010 and 24.6 percent in the same quarter of 2007.

The situation for U.S.-born minority teenagers is worse than for teenagers generally. Black teen unemployment, for example, was 46.2 percent in the second quarter of 2010; it was 35.9 percent for Hispanic teenagers.

The total number of young and less-educated U.S.-born workers unemployed is enormous. If we look at the broad measure of unemployment for all workers who lack a high school education or have only a high school education and are young (18 to 29) or are teenagers (16-17), 6.3 million were unemployed in the second quarter of 2010.

In addition to the 6.3 million unemployed or underemployed, there were another 16 million of these younger and less-educated individuals who were entirely out of the labor market. That is, they were not working, nor were they looking for work, even using the broadest measure of unemployment.

To place these numbers in perspective, there are an estimated seven to eight million illegal immigrants holding jobs.

Introduction

The argument is often made that there are not enough workers in the country to do jobs that require relatively little education.1 This is used to justify continuing to allow large numbers of less-educated immigrants into the country. It is also used as one of the justifications for legalizing illegal immigrants. Research indicates that the overwhelming majority of illegal immigrants and nearly half of legal immigrants have no more than a high school education.2 Taken together, 55 percent of legal and illegal immigrants ages 18 to 65 had no more than a high school education in the second quarter of 2010.3

The latest data show that unemployment is very high among less-educated and younger U.S.-born workers. Moreover, a very large share of less-educated natives are not even looking for work, and are thus not officially unemployed, even using the broadest measure of unemployment. While these workers faced a very poor labor market situation in 2010; even in 2007, before the current recession began, younger and less-educated U.S.-born workers had high rates of unemployment. It is difficult to reconcile the argument that there are not enough less-educated workers in the country with the extremely difficult employment situation these workers have faced for a number years. In this report we use the terms U.S.-born, native, and native-born interchangeably. We also use the terms immigrant and foreign-born synonymously.

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