Huge job gains reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in March were fueled largely by increases in government positions and employment of foreign-born workers. The government added 71,000 jobs in March, a new all-time record and above the average of 52,000 over the last 12 months, bringing the total number of employees to 23,270,000, according to data from the BLS released Friday. The number of employed foreign-born workers increased by 112,000 in March, rising to 31,114,000 from 31,002,000 in February.

The U.S. added 303,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in March, far above economists’ expectations of 200,000, while the unemployment rate ticked down to 3.8% from 3.9%. In total, the employment level for foreign-born workers has increased by 1,266,000 in the last year, while the number of native-born Americans has fallen by 651,000, according to the BLS. The unemployment rate for foreign-born workers is just 3.6%, while it is 4.0% for native-born workers.

In the last year, 651k native-born Americans have lost jobs, while 1.3 million foreign-born workers have gained jobs: pic.twitter.com/4H57zklf5u

— E.J. Antoni, Ph.D. (@RealEJAntoni) April 5, 2024

The BLS does not record whether foreign-born workers are in the country legally and acknowledges that the survey likely includes illegal immigrants working in the U.S. The U.S. has experienced a surge in illegal immigration under President Joe Biden, with Border Patrol recording around 2 million migrant encounters at the southern border in just fiscal year 2023, up from 1.7 million in fiscal year 2021. The growth of government jobs in March was followed by an 81,000 gain for health care jobs and a 49,000 increase in jobs in the leisure and hospitality sector, according to the BLS. March is the fifth month in a row that the number of people employed by the government has hit a new record

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