For the past decade, immigrant workers have been making up an increasingly large share of the workforce, composing nearly 16 percent of the labor force in 2008. For much of this time period, they have enjoyed a higher employment rate than their native born counterparts. But data released in March, 2009 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate that these trends are reversing, and that for the first time since 2004, the unemployment rate among the foreign-born has edged up to match that of native-born workers.