Boca Raton, FL – NCCI recently released its Quarterly Economics Briefing report for the fourth quarter of 2022, which addresses the critical issues impacting the US labor market and the impact of immigration on the reduced labor force.
Insurance executives identified the economy and the shifting workforce/workplace as some of the top concerns for the workers compensation industry.
Immigration is a key driver of US labor force and employment growth and reduced immigration in 2020 and 2021 contributes to the recent decrease in labor supply.
In this issue of the Quarterly Economics Briefing, NCCI addresses:
- How much did foreign-born workers contribute to labor force growth before the pandemic?
- How much has reduced immigration during the pandemic affected the labor force?
- What industries and occupations employ the largest shares of foreign-born workers?
- What does this mean for the labor market and workers compensation?
Key findings included:
- Over one in six workers in the United States is foreign-born, and about half of all labor force growth since the Great Recession has come from foreign-born workers.
- In 2020 and 2021, there were nearly 1 million fewer new immigrant workers than pre-pandemic expectations. Along with reduced labor force participation rates, this is an important factor in explaining the current total shortfall of about three million workers.
- Foreign-born workers are much more likely than native-born workers to work in agriculture, construction, production, transportation, and cleaning and maintenance occupations.
- Workers compensation outcomes may be particularly sensitive to labor shortages and workforce changes in these occupations, which almost uniformly have above-average rates of workplace injuries and illnesses.
Read the free report: NCCI: Q4 2022 Quarterly Economics Briefing
Source: NCCI