rise in unemployment. Interestingly, the period is also characterized by a sharp increase in the overall size of the likely illegal population, even with the significant swings in this population. The period from January 2001 to October 2003 shows one of the larger increases in the likely illegal population over the whole 1994 to 2009 period. After the 2001-2003 period, we see that the decline in the size of the likely illegal population in March 2003 and March 2004 was much smaller than the decline associated with the earlier unemployment spikes of 2001 and 2002. Nevertheless, a rise in unemployment happened first, followed by a modest fall in the population of less-educated young Hispanic immigrants. In general, Figure 5 shows that when the unemployment rate among illegals increased, the size of the likely illegal population tended to fall somewhat a few months later. This makes perfect sense. As illegal immigrants start losing their jobs, some decide to go home and fewer enter the country, but the effect is not immediate. Of course, there are increases in unemployment that do not seem to be accompanied by a decline in the illegal population, so the relationship between the economy and illegal immigration flows is not clear cut. Between September 2006 and January 2007 unemployment rose somewhat for this population, as it often does in the winter months. But there is absolutely no corresponding fall in the size of the illegal population The current decline does not fit into the typical pattern. The