Latest Numbers Show Plenty of Room To Hire Americans

The economy added 172,000 jobs in May. Payroll gains have reached their best levels since 2024. People are re-entering the labor force. And there’s room to grow.

Who Will The Next Jobs Go To?

The strong job growth was once again driven largely by the health care industry, which added another 35,000 jobs last month. Some policymakers, however, want at least 17,000 of those jobs to go to H-1B guest workers. 

Forty-three representatives from both parties are signed on to Rep. Mike Lawler’s H.R. 7961, the H-1Bs for Physicians and the Healthcare Workforce Act.

That’s nearly four times the number of representatives signed on to the End H-1B Visa Abuse Act (Crane, H.R. 8443), a bill designed to boost American employment.

Bills like Lawler’s often fly under the radar. But with our Grade Cards, there’s no place to hide.

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Mass Immigration or Mass Prosperity?

The cheap labor lobby convinces politicians that American industry will languish without mass immigration (legal and illegal), while multiple signals indicate that there is plenty of room to hire from the domestic labor pool.

Let’s look at some numbers.

3.4%

Increase in average hourly earnings over the last 12 months, the slowest rate in five years. Wages grow faster when employers need workers. 

27 Weeks

Two million Americans have been actively seeking jobs for more than 27 weeks, the most since 2001. 

7.3 Million

U.S.-born Americans with STEM degrees who work outside their field. That’s not including foreign-born Americans who should also be prioritized before a job is filled with someone from overseas. 

3 Million

Recent college graduates working in jobs that do not require a degree. The underemployment numbers have been rising for three years. 

>40%

Percentage of American households over the past decade that have struggled to cover the cost of necessities. (Brookings) 

80 Years

Teenagers seeking work experience face the worst summer jobs market since the government started tracking it in 1948. 

There is an abundance of working-age Americans who need a shot at self-sufficient lives of dignity.

Mass Immigration on Auto Pilot

Against this backdrop, the United States government continues every year to admit hundreds of thousands of temporary workers to fill labor gaps that don’t exist; and hundreds of thousands more permanent job seekers through extended-family migration and the random visa lottery – programs that give no consideration to how they affect American workers.