Under the radar of Washington’s highly partisan battles over the US-Mexico border, employment gains for immigrant women in the US are reaching record levels, thanks in part to a wave of Ukrainian refugees.

Many are semi-skilled and highly motivated workers who enter the US legally and through special emergency programs. Not only do they alleviate intense labor shortages in the hospitality, retail and other service industries, but they also help boost employment across the country.

People born outside the U.S. make up only 17.5% of the working-age U.S. population, but foreign-born workers ages 16 and older accounted for a whopping 64% of the growth in the U.S. labor force in the two-year period ending in May. with women contributing excessively, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

That compares to a share of 38% in the five years to 2019 before the pandemic.

Migrants from abroad have long been a growing part of the U.S. labor market, offsetting an aging population and other barriers to growth. But their employment rate relative to US-born workers has accelerated further since emerging from the pandemic, thanks to an uptick in normal legal immigration and the arrival of hundreds of thousands of refugees, particularly from Ukraine.

Added to this are emerging social and economic conditions that are driving more immigrant women to work rather than stay at home.

Statistics now show that the employment rate of foreign-born women has shot past record levels this year, nearly overtaking that of US-born women, whose numbers are still below pre-pandemic levels.

“We already see immigration becoming increasingly important in supporting labor force growth, and it will become even more important,” said Julia Gelatt, a senior analyst at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute.

In addition to meeting the immediate needs of employers, these new entrants are expected to provide a critical buffer for a U.S. workforce impacted by both short-term and longer-term forces: retirements and a wave of workers leaving their jobs in the wake of the pandemic; falling birth rates; and rising deaths, including drug-related deaths, suicides and other so-called despair deaths.

Some 300,000 people from that war-torn country have arrived in the US since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, many under the Biden administration’s “Uniting for Ukraine” program. About 100,000 Afghans have come since the fall of Kabul in the late summer of 2021, and tens of thousands more from Venezuela and Cuba, among others, are being admitted for humanitarian reasons.

Individuals entering under urgent refugee and parole programs can obtain work permits relatively quickly. They can generally stay for at least two years. Some have college degrees and require skills such as nursing. Others eagerly fill

the countless

lower-paying jobs in restaurants, hotels, stores, and nursing homes that American citizens largely ignore.

Vita Bohera and Nadia Senkiv come from the Lviv region in western Ukraine. Sponsored by relatives in the US, the two distant cousins ​​landed in Portland, Oregon,

away,

at the end of August. In November, Bohera and Senkiv, both in their 30s, were granted work permits.

I just sat at home and thought: what am I going to do in this country? said Bohera, a university graduate who worked as an English teacher in Ukraine. She started searching Facebook pages for job openings. After two months of training, Bohera found work as a medical interpreter, earning $20 to $40 an hour. Sometimes she drives long distances for appointments. The company usually pays for mileage, which is great, she said.

Bohera came with her two children aged 12 and 16, but her husband did not. Most men in Ukraine are stopped because of the possible call-up for military service.

Senkiv, 31, has no children, but also left her husband in Ukraine and lives with her younger brother, who has been in the US for several years. Her way to work was different. In her hometown of Drohobych, Senkiv entered vocational school after completing ninth grade basic education. She worked for a company that prepared dumplings and other ready-to-eat foods.

In Portland, she heard about a job opening from a woman who attended the same Ukrainian church. Since March, Senkiv has been working as a full-time cook at a kindergarten in southeast Portland. She also works a second job, spending two hours at night clearing tables and washing dishes at a retirement home for $14.75 an hour.

Senkiv doesn’t earn much in kindergarten anymore, and she quickly learned from an ordinary American obnoxious: “My salary is OK,

OK,

but the taxes are high.” Still, Senkiv says she is happy with her job, she likes working with children. The children like to hug. We don’t hug so much in Ukraine, she said, her words translated by her cousin.

Working in the kitchen or in a retirement home are some of the many service jobs that beg, especially since the country emerged from the pandemic.

Even with modest economic growth, there were more than 10 million job openings in the US this spring, nearly two jobs for every officially unemployed person, according to the latest government figures.

Job openings increased by more than 50% in healthcare and social assistance institutions compared to pre-pandemic 2019, and they rose by 22% in hospitality companies, where turnover is booming. Rough estimates indicate that as many as 50,000 jobs including dishwashing jobs could be available, based on job listings in Indeed.

Immigrants make up a particularly large portion of the workforce in hotels and restaurants. Marriott International says it has taken on more than 550 refugees in the US since last year. It is one of 12 companies in accommodation, manufacturing, cleaning and other services that have pledged to employ 20,000 refugees over three years.

We are in a unique moment, politically and economically, said Yaron Schwartz, the U.S. director of Tent Partnership for Refugees, a nonprofit organization that hires and trains refugees.

There are other reasons for the increase in the labor participation of women from ethnic minorities. Like women in general, those born abroad are increasingly educated, meaning they are more likely to work.

Economic pressures are also forcing traditional immigrant households to employ stay-at-home mothers, especially given the recent years of high inflation.

It’s almost a necessity, said Naomi Cruz, a Glendale immigration attorney who had been the LA leader at the Latinista, a group that promoted careers and entrepreneurs among Latinas.

Nearly a third of Latinos in the US were born abroad. In more recent years, Asia has been the leading source of immigrants, and among women, Census Bureau statistics show that those from India have seen the greatest employment growth, likely due to more husbands of tech workers with H-1B visas entering the labor market .

Overall, net immigration to the US, including refugees, exceeded 1 million between 2021 and 2022. That was more than double each of the previous two years, when the pandemic and other border-tightening policies under the Trump administration pushed international migration to a decade low.

Experts do not expect such large immigration increases in the coming years due to caps under US law, but several humanitarian programs

allow inclusive

up to 30,000 people a month from Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua are likely to keep pushing the number up.

These and others from abroad are expected to become increasingly important to the workforce as the US joins other developments

i.e

economies caught in a demographic squeeze.

Especially for states like California, international migration is the difference between a growing or shrinking population, especially as many seem to be leaving the state due to the high cost of living.

How many of the refugees will stay in the US and work for more than two years is not known.

Victoria Gorbachevska

29, who quickly found employment as a business analyst in Raleigh, NC, since arriving from Ukraine in November through the Welcome Connect sponsorship organization, isn’t sure.

herself.

But she sees a lot of potential to build a future in the US

“This country is good for educated young people who come to work here,” says Gorbachevska, who has a master’s degree, is married and has two young children.

The Biden administration has already made a way for Afghan nationals to extend their stay, and many refugees in general are expected to seek permanent status through asylum and other programs.

Zakira, who had asked not to use her surname for security reasons, fled Kabul on August 2.

VAT

December 19, 2021, just four days after the Taliban captured the capital.

That day was hard for me, Zakira said, remembering working in a hospital when panic engulfed her family. My father called me. Where are you? Why are you at work?

Zakira, 26, and her 17-year-old sister first arrived in Qatar, then found transportation to Washington, DC. And after two months on a base in Texas, the two sisters settled in Portland.

Zakira was a nurse in Afghanistan and initially found work in a nursing home. At the end of last year, she left for a better-paying job in a hospital where she cared for patients. She is now receiving training in phlebotomy. Her sister attends high school and the two live in a one-bedroom apartment in downtown Portland.

In Kabul they left behind their parents, as well as a married brother and older sister with children. Zakira said she fled because she wanted to get away from a regime that ended the dreams of girls and women who wanted to go to school or pursue a career.

It’s okay, she said of opportunities in the US. We can study, we can work. But it’s hard for me, she added. I have a plan, but without my family it’s hard. Don’t know. It is difficult for me.

Zakira said she will apply for asylum.