The Labor Department has reported that unemployment remained stuck at 7.6% in June 2013

This persistently high unemployment is not surprising: nearly half of the June 2013 job gains are needed just to absorb the 90,000 legal immigrants that arrive in the United States every month. The June 2013 data indicates that the job market is fairly strong — but for immigrant workers only. Native-born Americans continue to lose jobs, exit the labor force, and retire earlier than planned. The immigrant displacement of American workers has reached an all-time Obama Era high. In June 2013, native-born employment fell by 84,000 while foreign-born employment rose by 244,000. Since January 2009, foreign-born employment rose by 1.895 million. During that same time period, native-born American employment declined by 58,000. Since June 2012, the labor force participation rate — a measure of worker confidence — increased for immigrants but declined for native-born Americans. At 67.2%, the immigrant participation rate in June 2013 was 3.8% points above the native-born American rate.