Immigrants gain jobs post-recession

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WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- The end of the recession has been kinder to immigrants to the United States than to those born in the country, a report released Friday said.

While foreign-born workers gained 665,000 jobs between June 2009 and June 2010, those born in the United States lost 1.2 million jobs, the Pew Hispanic Center said. Unemployment among immigrants fell from 9.3 percent to 8.7 percent, while it rose from 9.2 percent to 9.7 percent for the native born.

The report, "After the Great Recession: Foreign Born Gain Jobs; Native Born Lose Jobs," said the number of immigrants of working age went up by 709,000 between 2009 and 2010 after going down in the previous year. Average wages for immigrants dropped sharply between 2009 and 2010.