According to the Los Angeles Times, the nonpartisan Pew Hispanic Center reports that immigrants have accepted three out of every ten new jobs created in the past year, or 378,496 out of a net increase of 1.3 million.  It is particularly striking that noncitizens filled 28.5% of the new positions, but comprise only 9% of all workers nationwide.  These numbers could reflect changing demographics with immigrant Latino and Asian populations growing rapidly within the U.S. while native birthrates decline. The Pew study found that although Latino immigrants were gaining jobs, Latinos as a whole were experiencing a decline in wages, compared to whites and African Americans.

These numbers may have political ramifications in this election year, as non-voters have obtained a significant proportion of the new jobs.  The statistics may fuel the debate about immigrant workers in the U.S., the quality of the new jobs, and the affects of globalization.  Both President Bush and Democrats support more liberal immigration policies.  The President’s proposed guest-worker program would allow current and future undocumented workers to live in the U.S. for up to six years.  Democrats propose providing legal status to those workers already present while denying entry to future guest workers. 

Although the Pew study does not specify how many of the newly employed immigrants are undocumented, advocates for restricting immigration believe it supports their position that American employers prefer undocumented workers.  But some economists maintain that the seemingly disproportionate share of immigrants in the workforce creates only a minimal impact in the national economy.  They explain that this economic turnaround tends to contain low-skilled and low wage jobs, unlike the growth of industrial jobs paying above-average wages that ushered in past economic recoveries.  Furthermore, workers have experienced less wage growth in this stage of the recovery than in the past.