EPI Research: Immigration is Essential to Addressing Workforce Gaps

Recent research from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a nonprofit, nonpartisan Washington D.C.-based think tank, adds to the widespread consensus among labor economists that America's workforce shortages cannot be solved without immigration.

An October 7, 2025 EPI issue brief discusses the impact of the U.S.-born labor force's projected shrinkage, annually, over the next decade, due to an aging population on labor force growth. Immigration is forecast to account for nearly all labor force growth over that time.

A September 25, 2025 report on U.S. labor force participation, reveals that labor force participation rates among U.S.-born individuals are currently near historic highs. Therefore, even the most ambitious policies to boost labor force participation among the U.S.-born-including prime-age workers-would not reverse these demographic trends meaningfully. Structural reforms that target known barriers to participation -like reducing incarceration, improving health, expanding childcare, and investing in education-can help, but their impact would be modest and delayed by years. In contrast, immigration directly offsets demographic decline. EPI also points out the larger economic and social implications of these conclusions about the labor force.

Without immigration, the ratio of workers to retirees will worsen, straining programs like Social Security and Medicare. GDP growth would also slow and sectors like long-term care would struggle to meet demand.

LeadingAge supports both domestic workforce policy that reduces barriers to labor force participation and immigration reform that expands pathways for essential workers to come to the U.S. to fill critical roles in sectors like aging services.