10 Jobs Employing the Most Immigrants in America

Immigration and policy concerning immigrants has never been a hotter topic in the United States. With a new presidential administration taking over, concern for the economy, civil rights, and all things related to immigration has reached an all-time high. While there are reasons to be concerned about immigration, it’s largely a net positive for the American economy. But that doesn’t dispel the concern many Americans feel as it relates to jobs and national security.

So the question then is: Is immigration really a threat to your job? Unless your employer is working the H1-B visa system over, or looking to pay below legal wages by hiring undocumented workers, it’s probably not. Still, it’s an issue that needs to be discussed and addressed.

When it comes down to the subject of what jobs and occupations are attracting the most immigrants, some are obviously more saturated than others. Typically, newcomers (especially undocumented workers) gravitate toward low-wage, unskilled labor. This can stem from a lack of skills, education, or experience, as well as language barriers or fear of deportation, among other factors. But educated, experienced, and driven people are coming to the U.S. as well, making jobs all across the economy more competitive. Ultimately, this benefits us and the job market. Though, in the short term, it can also make people fear for the jobs they do have.

Immigrants and the most popular jobs

A new report from Indeed outlines which sectors and jobs contain the highest share of immigrant workers. That is, the industries in which the highest percentage of employees are foreign-born.

“To identify these jobs, we used the Census’s American Community Survey (ACS), which asks respondents about their employment status, occupation, birthplace, and citizenship, among many other topics. We analyzed the data for all immigrants in the U.S., and then focused on those who have been in the country less than five years,” the report said.”

And interestingly enough, there’s this little tidbit: “The punchline is that compared with earlier immigrants, recent immigrants are more educated, more likely to come from Asia rather than Latin America, and less likely to work in occupations where they might compete directly with the native-born workers who were most supportive of Trump.”

Based on our findings from Indeed’s report, here are the 10 jobs currently employing the most foreign-born workers.

10. Transportation

Transportation is an immense industry, employing huge numbers of people. This includes taxi and personal drivers, delivery drivers, and truckers, who have the pleasure of holding America’s most common job. Indeed says 19% of the jobs in transportation are held by immigrants.

9. Health care support

Health care practitioners need support from people like nurses and administrators. In these fields, 19% of the workers don’t originate from the States.

8. Personal care and service

Another extremely broad category is the personal care and service sector, which holds more than 20% of immigrant workers. This includes jobs like hairdressers, concierges, childcare workers, among others.

7. Life, physical, and social sciences

Scientists are increasingly coming from other countries. In the life, physical, and social sciences fields specifically, 21% of the work force is composed of immigrants.

6. Food and beverage

Twenty-two percent of workers in the food and beverage sector — ranging from work in restaurants to food production — are immigrants. This is a good thing, as we generally reap the benefits by trying all sorts of delicious foods from around the world.

5. Production

Production is as broad a descriptor as you can find. For our purposes, we’ll assume this includes manufacturing jobs and other related occupations. According to Indeed, immigrants hold 23% of these positions.

4. Computing and mathematics

When it comes to anything involving computing and math, other countries are emerging as a valuable source of talent. In this sector, 24% of workers are newcomers.

3. Construction

Folks from other countries make up more than a quarter of the workforce in the construction industry. Twenty-seven percent of the workers in the industry are immigrants.