The Upjohn Institute New Hires Quality Index climbed 0.1 percent between March and April to $20.06, 6 cents off its November record. The index is still up 1.5 percent over the past 12 months but hiring volume dropped 1.0 percent and is off 2.8 percent since last April.
In light of the expiration of Title 42, a pandemic rule authorities used to turn away migrants at U.S. borders, index creator Brad Hershbein revisits trends in foreign-born and native-born workers for this month’s news release. Since 2005, the wage index for foreign-born workers grew 16.3 percent, far outpacing the 7.1 percent of native-born workers.
However, hiring rates have declined for both groups, with a sharper decline for foreign-born workers over the last 12 to 18 months. Despite this, the fraction of the total earning power among all new hires held by foreign-born workers has increased over the years, including during the pandemic, to around 19-20 percent. This share could climb still higher, Hershbein writes, if the labor market continues to slow and hiring and job quality among native-born workers falls.
Read the full release or explore the index.