Overview
- Census figures analyzed by the Pew Research Center indicate more than 1.2 million immigrants left the labor force from January through July 2025, following an earlier January–June estimate of 750,000 fewer workers.
- Pew researchers say the drop could reflect deportations, voluntary departures, lower inflows or undercounting, and they stress the data are preliminary and causation remains unsettled.
- Workers, growers and advocates report ICE raids and public detentions that have thinned crews, with accounts of arrests at laundromats and roadsides and claims that most detainees lack criminal records.
- Agriculture reports wasted crops during spring harvests, construction employment has fallen in many metros—including losses of about 7,200 jobs in Riverside–San Bernardino–Ontario and 6,200 in Los Angeles—and home care faces risk with immigrants comprising an estimated 43% of aides.
- Employers describe curtailed operations from meatpacking to dairies and logistics, contractors say hiring would rise if labor were available, and one researcher warns continued mass deportations could reduce GDP by more than 4%.