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Show Foreign hmi students nwke up 3 of school popuhtiwi By TOM BUSSELBERG According to two University of Utah officials, in the average Davis County classroom of 33 students, one would be foreign-born. Some 4,388 are foreign-born based on 1980 census data, notes Garth L. Mangum, Max McGraw, professor of economics and management, man-agement, and Gaylen Chandler, doctoral candidate in the management manage-ment department at the university. The Davis total includes slightly more than two-fifths or 2,061 from Europe; 1,181 from Asia; 329 Canadians; 205 from Mexico and 612 others. For the state, a slightly higher percentage are foreign-born, at 3.5 percent. The greatest number and percentage resided in Salt Lake County at the time of the census. Davis County's population then was listed as just above 146,000. It now is estimated at 180,000 so there could be significant changes not reported in the study. "The nation's growing dependence depend-ence on immigration as a source of labor force growth is a matter of great concern, fueled by the persistently persis-tently telow-replacement birth rates of recent years in the United States," the pair note. "Studies in California and other states have reached the conclusion that immigration has been a positive posi-tive factor in economic development develop-ment and job creation. Although many immigrants are not at the bottom bot-tom of the skill ladder, a substantial proportion are," they said. "The availability of these productive, pro-ductive, but low-paid workers, is thought by a number of economics to aid business expansion, creating enough higher-skilled jobs for U.S. nationals to compensate for those lost to immigrants." In Utah, 21,000 immigrants entered en-tered from 1970-1980 while 29,000 lived here before 1970. Only five percent of the 400,000 person statewide state-wide growth in that decade included in-cluded immigrants. Immigration officials believe that 25,000 illegal aliens live in the state, most thought to have arrived after 1970. Under the 1986 immigration immig-ration legislation laws about 10,000 may be eligible for "legalized" status. Following the Davis County trend, two-fifths of the immigrants to the state before 1970 were Europeans, Euro-peans, one-fifth hailed from Latin America while one in 14 were Asian. After 1970, though, only 13 percent were European; one-fifth still came from Latin America, five percent from Central America, one percent from Mexico and 8.2 percent per-cent were Canadians. "A full 42 percent came from Asia," the academics noted. "Why Utah became the destination destina-tion of so many more than its share of Indochinese immigrants is not readily apparent, but that fact has been important in determining their economic impact." While a smaller proportion of Utah's foreign-born fall under the so-called "work age" category, 48 percent are employed compared to 44 percent of the native-born. Although foreign-born make up only 3.5 percent of the state's population, they comprise 3.9 percent per-cent of the workforce. A greater percentage have a less-than-fourth grade population of the foreign-born foreign-born over natives, but more immigrants immig-rants have advanced college training. An occupational comparison shows that about one-fourth of native-born and immigrants hold jobs in managerial, professional and specialty occupations. On the so-called "low end" including in-cluding operators, fabricators, laborers, 16 percent of natives, 27 percent of 1970-1979 immigrants and 14 percent of pre-1970 immigrants immig-rants hold such jobs. Far fewer of those immigrants coming in the decade of the 1970's hold technical, sales and related jobs while a somewhat higher percentage per-centage hold service-oriented jobs. "At Utah's modest rete of immigration, im-migration, there is no evidence of substantial negative impact," tbc pair indicated. "Bringing with them a new set of experience! and the willingness to work productively productive-ly for modest pay, Utah, on balance, ba-lance, appears to benefit substantially substan-tially from its new arrivals." |