Analysis shows more jobs going to Americans, unemployed immigrants leaving Florida

By MATT CLARK (Contact)
Originally published 2:15 p.m., Saturday, June 6, 2009
Updated 2:15 p.m., Saturday, June 6, 2009

NAPLES — It’s like an immigration critic’s fantasy.

Jobs previously held by foreign-born workers are being snatched up by natives. Immigrant workers are leaving the state or returning to their home countries. And, for the first time since roughly 2004, the unemployment rate nationally among immigrant workers may be higher than for native workers.

Those conclusions are based on an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data from the first quarter of this year published by a Washington, D.C.-based think tank and observations made by Southwest Florida officials close to the immigrant work force.

Some of the local officials were surprised to hear the unemployment rate may have been lower among immigrants during the recent past, a conclusion of the think tank’s report.

Others, though, are guessing at why it has increased. Aside from blaming the unemployment on the decline in construction industry jobs, they said native workers now are more willing to accept low-paying jobs that immigrants were more likely to take prior to the recession.

“Now, people will take any job,â€