Which Industries Employ the Most Immigrant Workers in the U.S.?

In 2023, about one-fifth of the American workforce was made up of immigrants: of the 160.2 million workers in the U.S., around 29.7 million were immigrants. This represents an increase from 2010, when immigrants accounted for 15.6% of the workforce. Immigrants are employed in various industries, with concentrations in education, health, and professional services.Which industries employ the most immigrants?The education and health services employed the largest number of immigrants — 5.5 million, or 18.4% of all immigrant employees in 2023. Next are professional and business services with 4.7 million (15.8%) and construction with 3.3 million (11.1%).Education and health services also employed the largest number of native workers — 31.4 million people, or nearly 25% of all natives in the workforce. Wholesale and retail trade employs another 12.6%, and professional and business services rank third, with 12.1%. The mining industry had the lowest number of both native and immigrant workers: it employed about 74,000 immigrant workers in 2023, approximately 0.2% of employed immigrants, and about 517,000 native workers (0.4%).Which industries have the highest percentage of immigrants in their workforces?The construction industry had the highest percentage of immigrant workers in 2023: about 3.3 million, or 28.6% of all people employed in this industry. The second highest percentage of immigrant workers was in professional and business services, with 22.9%. The third place went to “Other services” — a broad category that includes a variety of services such as auto repair, beauty salons, barbershops, and religious organizations — with 21.9%.Which industries saw the greatest growth in immigrant employment?The number of employed immigrants grew in all industries except for two, between 2010 and 2023, with numbers growing more rapidly in some sectors than in others. The most substantial growth was in the transportation and utilities, professional and business services, and construction industries, all of which saw the size of their workforces made up of immigrants increase by at least 5 percentage points.Source: USA Facts