The most recent jobs data released Friday continues the trend of net employment growth in the U.S. since the beginning of the recession going to foreign-born workers.
Since the beginning of the recession in December of 2007 — it is believed to have ended in June 2009 — while the native-born population of Americans has experienced a net job loss, the foreign born population has seen net job growth.
New, not seasonally adjusted figures, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics updated on Friday reveal that in December 2007 the number of foreign-born workers was 22,810,000. By last month, February, the number had increased to 24,741,000.
The new data mean that overall, since the start of the recession, foreign-born workers have gained more than 1.9 million jobs.
Meanwhile, in that same time frame, the native-born employed population decreased from 123,524,000 to 122,378,000 in February 2015, for a total employment reduction of more than 1.1 million.
To be sure, however, native-born Americans experienced more job growth last month than their foreign born counterparts. While the foreign born employed population increased 188,000 the native-born employed population increased by 379,000.
Both the native and foreign-born populations have increased since December 2007.