Bennington
Foreign-Born Workers Leaving US Creates Gaps in Key Sectors
Economists, policymakers and journalists have been puzzling over why so many workers between 25 and 54 have been leaving the labor force over the past two years. An Ohio data analyst has identified one cause that could be a warning…
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Key points
- Federal data indicates 2.1 million foreign-born working-age men left the country over the last two years, with 88 percent employed prior to departure.
- Departing workers previously filled large shares of jobs in agriculture, construction, grounds maintenance, and food preparation.
- Native-born workers have not stepped in to take these vacated positions, leaving persistent staffing shortages that could drive inflation higher.
NewsWK — Businesses across Bennington County face ongoing staffing shortages in agriculture, construction, and hospitality. Now, national employment numbers reveal a broader trend. Millions of working-age men have departed the American economy over the last two years.
Economists have tracked sharp declines in workforce engagement among adults aged 25 to 54. In fact, roughly 720,000 Americans stopped looking for work between May and June alone. State-level records tell a similar story. For example, Ohio reports that 74,000 fewer residents are seeking jobs now than at this time last year.
Why it matters here
Southern Vermont employers depend heavily on regional hands to keep dairy barns running, build homes, and staff resort kitchens. When national workforce numbers contract, recruiting pressures intensify across Bennington, Manchester, and Pownal. Area farms and contracting crews must compete for fewer available laborers. Consequently, open positions drive up project costs and create tight operating limits.
What explains the us labor force decline?
The decline stems primarily from the departure of 2.1 million foreign-born working-age men over the past two years. Data analyst Eric Pachman found that 88 percent held active jobs before leaving. As a result, the national workforce shrank by 1.4 million men instead of growing along normal seasonal paths.
Pachman examined federal records through his research project, Data 4 the People. His research confirmed that 1.2 million foreign-born men left during 2025. In addition, another 919,000 exited during the first eight months of 2026.
By comparison, only 336,000 foreign-born men left the nation during the height of the 2020 pandemic. Therefore, recent departures mark the largest workforce exit seen in decades. Meanwhile, federal agencies reported up to 10,000 deportations each month under current immigration policies. However, Pachman found no matching exit numbers among foreign-born women. As a result, these enforcement actions often separate households while pulling reliable breadwinners out of local economies.
What does the missing workers analysis reveal about jobs?
The data reveals that departing workers held jobs concentrated in essential, physically demanding industries. Specifically, foreign-born men held more than 40 percent of national agriculture and forestry positions. They also performed one-third of all construction work. In addition, these workers carried major shares in healthcare support, maintenance, and kitchen operations.
Departing foreign-born men previously filled critical shares of several key industries:
- Farming, fishing, and forestry: 42 percent of the workforce
- Construction and extraction: 34 percent of the workforce
- Building and grounds maintenance: 30 percent of the workforce
- Healthcare support roles: 27 percent of the workforce
- Food preparation and service: 25 percent of the workforce
- Transportation and moving materials: 25 percent of the workforce
These employment sectors form the backbone of rural communities across Southern Vermont, Eastern New York, and the northern Berkshires. For instance, dairies in Bennington County and Washington County need experienced hands every single day. Likewise, local builders struggle to locate roofers, framers, and heavy equipment operators.
Can native workers replace those who left?
Government data shows that native-born men are not stepping forward to take these open positions. Instead, the overall labor participation rate among native-born workers continues to drop. Because native job seekers avoid these physical roles, vacancies remain open for extended stretches across multiple states. Consequently, these critical jobs stay unfilled without domestic replacements.
Some policymakers claimed deportations would create new opportunities for domestic workers. However, employment numbers contradict that claim.
“If that is true, what we should be finding when we look at the public data is that as jobs go away that immigrants were holding, those jobs should be getting filled by native-born men,” Pachman said. “But we’re not finding that. We’re finding that the participation rate of native-born men is continuing to decline.”
Because native workers bypass these trades, unfilled positions threaten to disrupt supply chains. Furthermore, sustained staffing deficits push up costs for employers and consumers alike.
“All that is going to do is lead to certain vacancies in the economy for certain types of jobs that were more likely to be done by the foreign-born,” Pachman said. “If they go unfilled, then all this does is lead to more inflation.”
Consequently, local households may experience higher repair estimates and elevated food prices as labor challenges persist throughout the region.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by our editorial team.
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