Trump’s immigration curbs will help take 2.4 million people out of the workforce, but he’s betting AI can pick up the slack

The U.S. working-age population is headed for a cliff, one that has become much steeper over the past year due, in part, to the Trump administration’s strict immigration policies.

The proportion of American adults who are employed or actively looking for a job was always going to shrink over the next decade as the labor force as a whole ages. But declining birth rates and the White House’s immigration crackdown is set to put an even larger dent in America’s future workforce—a more than 2 million-person gap.