LOS ANGELES — Below the radar of Washington's highly partisan battles over the U.S.-Mexico border, employment gains for immigrant women in the U.S. are reaching record levels, thanks in part to a surge of Ukrainian refugees.
Many are semi-skilled and highly motivated workers, entering the U.S. legally and through special emergency programs. They are not only easing intense worker shortages in hospitality, retail and other service industries, but are helping drive up employment for the entire country.
People born outside the U.S. make up just 17.5% of the American working-age population, but foreign-born workers 16 years and older accounted for a whopping 64% of the nation's labor force growth in the two-year period that ended in May, with women making an outsized contribution, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
