2012 Foreign-born Workers: Labor Force Characteristics — 2013-05-22

The unemployment rate for foreign-born persons in the United States was 8.1 percent in 2012, down from 9.1 percent in 2011, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The jobless rate of native-born persons also fell to 8.1 percent in 2012, down from 8.9 percent in the prior year. Data on nativity are collected as part of the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly sample survey of approximately 60,000 households. The foreign born are persons who reside in the United States but who were born outside the country or one of its outlying areas to parents who were not U.S. citizens. The foreign born include legally-admitted immigrants, refugees, temporary residents such as students and temporary workers, and undocumented immigrants. The survey data, however, do not separately identify the numbers of persons in these categories. For further information about the survey, see the Technical Note. --In 2012, there were 25.0 million foreign-born persons in the U.S.