New research from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco concluded that immigration has become essential to sustaining the size of the U.S. labor force, and that recent drops in net migration could limit its growth in the years ahead.
The analysis estimates that net international migration fell to about 515,000 people in 2025, down sharply from roughly 2 million in 2024. Researchers Evgeniya A. Duzhak and Addie New-Schmidt wrote that the slowdown was driven by fewer undocumented immigrants entering the country, somewhat higher emigration rates, and an estimated 285,000 interior deportations.
