The Workforce - Estimated Illegal Workforce Population

The chart above shows the estimated number of illegal workers in the United States by country of origin for 1996. Only the top 10 countries are shown. The data are based both on the labor force participation rates in 1996 and the estimated illegal immigrant population in that year. The participation rate used for the Mexican, Central American, and South American population is the rate for those of Hispanic origin. The participation rate used for all others is the rate for all workers 16 years and older in 1996.

According to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, there were an estimated 5 million illegal immigrants in this country in 1996. By 2000, that number had grown to 8 million. Based on the total labor force participation rate in those years, the estimated number of illegal workers was 3,340,000 in 1996 and 5,376,000 in 2000. As the chart above shows, most of the illegal workers come from Mexico, making up 54% of the illegal worker population.

Forty-one percent of the illegal immigrant population are nonimmigrant overstays. Nonimmigrant overstays are those who came here legally on a temporary basis but who failed to leave when their temporary visas expired. Even though most of the illegal population is Mexican, only 16% are nonimmigrant overstays. Twenty-six percent of those from Central America are nonimmigrant overstays, and 91% of illegal immigrants from all other countries are classified in this category. This means that most of the illegal worker population came here illegally.

A discussion of illegal labor law enforcement follows.

Sources: U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. "Illegal Migration." The Triennial Comprehensive Report on Immigration, Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, October 1996. U.S. Department of Labor. Bureau of Labor Statistics. "Table 5. Civilian labor force participation rates for selected demographic groups, annual averages, 1948-2000." Retrieved December 3, 2001 from http://www.bls.gov/opub/rtaw/pdf/table05.pdf. Camarota, Steven A., "Census Bureau: Eight Million Illegal Aliens in 2000", Center for Immigration Studies, October 24, 2001. Retrieved December 4, 2001 from http://www.cis.org/articles/2001/censusrelease1001.html.