04/14/2016
A City of Immigrant Workers: Building a Workforce Strategy to Support All New Yorkers
New York City is a city of immigrants. New York is home to the most diverse immigrant population of
any major city in the world and immigrants make up nearly half of the city’s workforce. Yet the city is
faced with a paradox: while immigrants are employed at higher rates than native-born New Yorkers,
they are disproportionately clustered in low-wage occupations and are frequently taken advantage
of by both exploitative employers and predatory employment agencies. As the city government has
begun restructuring its workforce development system, it has created an important opportunity to
address these inequities faced by immigrant New Yorkers.