Immigrants Are Most Likely To Hold These Jobs: Pew Analysis

There are several jobs in the U.S. that are more likely to be held by immigrants than U.S.-born workers, but there are no major industries as a whole in which immigrants outnumber U.S.-born employees, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of government data released Thursday.

Sixty-three percent of "miscellaneous personal appearance workers" (which includes manicurists and pedicurists, makeup artists, shampooers and skin care specialists) are immigrants, a higher share than in any other occupation. They also account for about 60 percent of graders and sorters of agricultural products and plasterers and stucco masons; 55 percent of sewing machine operators; and about half of maids and housekeepers, tailors and dressmakers and miscellaneous agricultural workers.

Pew reported that immigrants made up 17.1 percent of the U.S. workforce in 2014. About 12.1 percent of the total workforce, or about 19.6 million workers, were in the U.S. legally. Five percent, or 8 million, entered the U.S. without legal permission or overstayed their visas.

In 1995, immigrants made up only about 12 percent of the total civilian workforce.

Pew also noted:

Views on immigration’s impact on U.S.-born workers have shifted significantly over the past decade, according to a Pew Research Center survey released last year. Americans then were almost evenly divided, with 42% saying the growing number of immigrants working in the U.S. helps American workers and 45% saying it hurts workers who were born in the U.S. In 2006, 55% said having more immigrants hurt U.S. workers, with just 28% saying it helped them.

Read the full Pew report here.

Photo: Workers run to pick Cabernet Sauvignon grapes in the Dragon's Terrace vineyard during harvest at the Quintessa winery in 2016, in Rutherford, California. Credit: AP Photo/Eric Risberg