Abstract
Bureau of Labor Statistics reveal a significant uptick in the underutilized American talent pool in 2025 despite the Trump Administration’s America First workforce policy, which includes accelerated deportations of unauthorized workers and restrictions on foreign labor. After defining the underutilized talent pool, the demographic groups experiencing the most difficulty in the U.S. labor market in the first year of President Trump’s second term in office are identified and policy prescriptions to rectify the problem are advanced.
Introduction
Prioritizing U.S. citizens for federal and private sector jobs is a key element in the Trump Administration’s America First policy platform. Clamping down on international migration, restricting foreign labor, and accelerating deportations of unauthorized workers are some of the programmatic pathways the White House is using to create preferential opportunities for American workers.
Prior research has demonstrated the adverse impact of these efforts on current and future U.S. population growth. Due in large part to constraints on international migration combined with a long-term slowing rate of population growth, our nation is on a trajectory toward absolute population decline as early as the end of this year, which has enormous implications for future U.S. economic vitality and prosperity.
Moreover, it is unclear what affect America First policies are having on the U.S. work force, especially on the size and composition of the nation’s underutilized talent pool. That is, individuals with marketable skills but who are unemployed, marginally attached, or discouraged for assorted reasons from participating in the U.S. workforce.