The percentage of people working in Florida illegally has fallen to its lowest level in a decade.
According to a new study from the Pew Hispanic Center, about 600,000 immigrants living in the country illegally work in Florida, making up about 6.2 percent of the state’s civilian labor force. That’s down from 8.2 percent during the Great Recession, when the number was of workers was 750,000.
In 2004, fewer immigrants who were in the U.S. illegally, about 585,000, worked in Florida, but they made up 7 percent of the workforce.
The state numbers reflect a national trend that saw a slight drop in the number of immigrants here illegally who work – from 8.3 million to 8 million. The overall number of immigrants without legal status remained around 11 million.
Pew researchers found that immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally make up a larger share of the Florida civilian labor force, 6.2 percent, than of the total population, 4.2 percent, because they’re more likely to be of working age.
Email: fordonez@mcclatchydc.com; Twitter: @francoordonez.
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