The labor force participation rate has not returned to pre-recession levels for Americans with no college degree, according to a report from the Center of Immigration Studies.
The labor force participation rate, which measures the percentage of the population that either has a job or actively searched for one in the past month, was 69.6 percent for natives without a bachelor's degree in the first quarter of 2017. Before the recession, which started in December 2007, the labor force participation for this group was 73.8 percent.
The rate has not improved in the last four years and exposes a substantial gap between labor force participation between less-educated and more-educated Americans. The labor force participation rate in the first quarter of 2017 was 85.5 percent for those with a bachelor's degree—15.9 percentage points above the rate for those without a bachelor's degree.
"These newest employment numbers show the dismal employment picture for less-educated, low-skilled workers—the vulnerable Americans who compete with H-2B non-agricultural guest worker visa holders for jobs like landscaper, construction worker, housekeeper, waiter, bellhop, or kitchen helper," said Steven Camarota, the author of the report.
"The latest numbers show no evidence of there being a shortage of U.S. workers for these jobs that are presently being filled by foreign workers," he said.
While immigrants without a bachelor's degree have improved their employment situations between 2000 and 2007, labor force participation for this group has not returned to pre-recession levels, either.
The labor force participation rate was 72.1 percent for immigrants without a degree in the first quarter of 2017, compared with 69.9 percent for the native-born. This was a decline from the 73.4 percent labor force participation rate for immigrants seen in the first quarter of 2007.