Immigration is the primary source of growth in the prime-age labor force: Labor force growth since 1994 for ages 25–54, overall and without immigrants (in millions)
| Actual overall growth | Growth without immigrants | |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 1995 | 1.3 | 1.2 |
| 1996 | 2.9 | 1.6 |
| 1997 | 4.4 | 2.3 |
| 1998 | 4.8 | 2.1 |
| 1999 | 5.5 | 2.6 |
| 2000 | 7.5 | 2.8 |
| 2001 | 7.8 | 2.4 |
| 2002 | 7.8 | 2.1 |
| 2003 | 8.4 | 1.9 |
| 2004 | 8.2 | 1.5 |
| 2005 | 8.8 | 1.8 |
| 2006 | 9.6 | 1.7 |
| 2007 | 10.4 | 1.8 |
| 2008 | 10.5 | 1.7 |
| 2009 | 9.8 | 1.1 |
| 2010 | 9.0 | 0.1 |
| 2011 | 7.8 | -0.9 |
| 2012 | 7.3 | -1.9 |
| 2013 | 6.8 | -2.4 |
| 2014 | 6.8 | -2.6 |
| 2015 | 7.2 | -2.5 |
| 2016 | 8.3 | -1.8 |
| 2017 | 8.7 | -1.6 |
| 2018 | 9.8 | -1.2 |
| 2019 | 10.2 | -0.7 |
| 2020 | 8.7 | -1.2 |
| 2021 | 8.9 | -1.4 |
| 2022 | 10.9 | -0.6 |
| 2023 | 12.6 | 0.5 |
Notes: Immigrants are defined as the foreign-born population, including noncitizens and naturalized U.S. citizens, but excluding the population born abroad to American parents, following the Census Bureau's convention on estimating the foreign-born population. The growth without immigrants is cumulative growth of the U.S.-born population.
Source: EPI analysis of the Current Population Survey Outgoing Rotation Group microdata, EPI Current Population Survey Extracts, Version 1.0.48 (2024a), https://microdata.epi.org.