A new Economic Policy Institute analysis finds that President Trump’s proposed mass deportations could eliminate nearly 6 million jobs nationwide—including 115,000 in Pennsylvania—by disrupting industries reliant on both immigrants and U.S.-born workers. The Pennsylvania Capital-Star has more.
JD Supra
July 16, 2025
After all, the economic implications of Trump’s scheme are dire. If the administration manages to deport 4 million people, the Economic Policy Institute estimates:
- There will be 3.3 million fewer employed immigrants and 2.6 million fewer employed U.S.-born workers at the end of that period.
- Employment in the construction sector will drop sharply: U.S.-born construction employment will fall by 861,000, and immigrant employment will fall by 1.4 million.
- The deportations will eliminate half a million child care jobs.
The Contrarian Substack
July 16, 2025
This lack of U.S. citizenship makes farmworkers vulnerable to exploitation and abuse by farm owners, says Daniel Costa, a research director at the Economic Policy Institute.
“When workers don’t have status, they, in practice, don’t have workplace rights,” Costa explains. And many, he says, carry heavy burdens of debt from the crossing to the United States. “These workers are risking a lot if they speak up.” Farm owners can easily fire and replace them from the rich vein of desperate third-world workers offered by illegal migration and legal guest worker programs.
The result is that farmworkers, despite the difficulty of the work and the skill and knowledge required, are among the lowest-paid workers in the country, earning around half the wage of the average U.S. worker. Critically, Costa says, this doesn’t only impact undocumented workers; it pushes down benefits for all workers across the industry. If employers have easy access to workers who don’t really have rights, he says, it makes it harder for U.S. citizens to push for better wages or safety equipment, in “a race to the bottom.”
In These Times
July 16, 2025
Inside Climate News
July 16, 2025
Read a report outlining how the passage of the Reconciliation Bill will harm vulnerable communities and the nation at large written by Repairers of the Breach, Institute for Policy Studies and the Economic Policy Institute here.
The Contrarian Substack
July 15, 2025
President Trump’s increasingly aggressive approach to the deportation of undocumented migrants could have massive economic implications. Multiple studies, including one conducted by the Economic Policy Institute, found that mass deportations could result in a meaningful economic contraction, reducing wages and driving up unemployment rates among American workers. While the Trump administration maintains its migrant expulsion policies will have the opposite effect, the potential consequences of deportations remain particularly stark in states where undocumented workers make up large shares of the labor force.
24/7 Wall Street
July 15, 2025
Read a report outlining how the passage of the Reconciliation Bill will harm vulnerable communities and the nation at large written by Repairers of the Breach, Institute for Policy Studies and the Economic Policy Institute here.
The Contrarian Substack
July 15, 2025
President Trump’s increasingly aggressive approach to the deportation of undocumented migrants could have massive economic implications. Multiple studies, including one conducted by the Economic Policy Institute, found that mass deportations could result in a meaningful economic contraction, reducing wages and driving up unemployment rates among American workers. While the Trump administration maintains its migrant expulsion policies will have the opposite effect, the potential consequences of deportations remain particularly stark in states where undocumented workers make up large shares of the labor force.
24/7 Wall Street
July 15, 2025
Read a report outlining how the passage of the Reconciliation Bill will harm vulnerable communities and the nation at large written by Repairers of the Breach, Institute for Policy Studies and the Economic Policy Institute here.
The Contrarian Substack
July 15, 2025