FIGURE3 Share in Labor Force for Ages 18-64, by Gender and Status, 2012
Unauthorized immigrants of working age have substantially different patterns of labor force participation than do people born in the U.S. Unauthorized immigrant men of working age are considerably more likely to be in the workforce than U.S.-born men (91% versus 79%). For women, the opposite is true; only 61% of unauthorized immigrant women are in the labor force, compared with 72% of U.S.-born women. For both genders, substantial portions of the U.S.-born population of working age are not in the labor force because they are attending school, retired or disabled, but that is true for only a small share of unauthorized immigrants. A major difference for women is that a higher share of unauthorized immigrant women say they are not working and have young children at home (22%) compared with other immigrants (13%) and U.S.-born women (7%). While there have been some modest changes in labor force participation rates over the past 20 years, the participation of unauthorized immigrant men and women, relative to the U.S.-born population and legal immigrants, has remained essentially unchanged since 2005.
FIGURE3  | Share in Labor Force for Ages 18-64, by Gender and  | Status, 2012  | US born  | Legal immigrants  | Unauthorized immigra ints  | 79  | 84  | Men  | 91  | 72  | 68  | Women  | 61  | Source: Pew Research Centertabulationiro Public Use augmented Series (IPUMS) 2012 American Community  | Survey data from Integrated Public Use Microdata augmented Series (IPUMS)  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 