| In memory of United Flight 93 pabook,libraries.psu.edu |
A lovely almost fall Wednesday afternoon to you. It is time for the weekly episode of Blogger Candidate Forum. Today is the 18th anniversary to the most devastating terrorist attack on American soil. It was the day that 19 hijackers seized four airplanes, crashing two into the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon, and one into an empty field in Pennsylvania. The plane crash in Pennsylvania, United Flight 93, was the work of heroic passengers trying to prevent the hijackers from crashing into the White House. These brave men and women sacrificed their lives for the sake of others. They are true American patriots. They, along the men and women who lost their lives at the Pentagon and New York City reside with the angels. Please keep the surviving families and the first responders who suffer from 9/11-related illness in your thoughts. Onward
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| The Golden Gate Bridge San Francisco, California latinopublicpolicy.org |
One of the oft-repeated truisms about the United States is that we are a nation of immigrants. This statement also applies to the State of California. Immigrants have been coming to California since pre-statehood days. This fact seems to have been lost amid all the shouting about immigration. What also was lost in the all the rants was who are the immigrants coming to California and where they come from. Any thoughts? Let Blogger tell you.
The majority of newly arrived immigrants to California--especially from Asia--are better educated that U.S.-born citizens. Surprised? They are not starting out at the bottom like Chinese and Japanese immigrants who arrived on the West Coast 150 years to work on the Transcontinental Railroad and in the fields. Yes, many Latin American immigrants are still coming here to work in the fields, albeit not enough according to their farmer employers, or wash your dishes at your favorite restaurant. However, many are better educated than their predecessors.
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| Immigration and education levels ppic.org |
Hans Johnson, an immigration and demographics expert at the Public Policy Institute of California, told the Los Angeles,
It's the old story of immigrants coming to the U.S. and California seeking a better life for themselves and their children,....
What's different now is the trend toward immigrants coming into California with high levels of education. The share of those who already have completed college is extremely high. Asian immigrants are the best educated group in California, better than U.S.-born Immigrants from India are the single best educated (latimes.com; May 20, 2019; date accessed Sept. 11, 2019).
If you want proof of this statement, just check out enrollment in STEAM/STEM majors at any California university. The majority of students in, for example, engineering majors are either Chinese or Indian. Mr. Johnson's statement, "What's different now is the trend immigrants coming into California with high levels of education...," also applies to Latin American immigrants.
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| Female undocumented immigrants centerforhealthjournalism.org |
Latin Americans immigrants are arriving in California with greater levels of education. This pokes a hole in the stereotypical Latin American immigrant. As surprising as it may sound, it does have repercussions for California's economy. Mr. Johnson said that this,
...means there are fewer lower-skilled immigrants and a smaller pool of farm workers than there used to be (Ibid)
Regardless, California's economy still relies on un- or under- educated immigrants, according to a recently published paper by Mr. Johnson. The publication, Immigrants in California (ppic.org; date accessed Sept. 11, 2019), is based on immigration data through 2017, the most current (latimes.com; May 20, 2019). Hans Johnson reported, "In 2017,..., 32% of working-age California immigrants had not graduated from high school. They primarily worked in the agriculture and hospitality industries" (Ibid).
Yet, "that same year, 52% of working-age immigrants who had lived in the U.S. for five years or less had at least bachelor's degree--up 30 percentage point since 1990. In contrast, only 37% of U.S.-born Californians were college graduates--up just 10 points since 1990" (Ibid).
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| South Asian immigrant nationalgeographic.com |
Further, "in 2017, 55% of newly arrived immigrants were from Asian, roughly the number from Latin America 29%. The majority from Asian had at least a bachelor's degree--and 80% of immigrants from India did" (Ibid).
Of the California workers with, at least, a 4-year degree, "30% were immigrants" (Ibid). The overwhelming majority of university graduates working in the tech field and product manufacturing were immigrants. What is California's attraction, besides the obvious good weather? Silicon Valley and Los Angeles. No surprises that these tech hubs would be a big magnet for immigrants. Mr. Johnson told the Times, Silicon Valley is drawing in immigrants (Ibid)
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| gcir.org |
In California, there are five counties where over a third of the population are immigrants. Of the five, the top three are centered in the San Francisco Bay Area (i.e. Silicon Valley): Santa Clara, San Francisco, and San Mateo. The other two are Los Angeles County and Alameda County, in the East San Francisco Bay Area. Hans Johnson enthuses, "The influx of college-educated immigrants couldn't come at a better time. California needs these people to replace U.S.-born, college educated baby boomers who are rapidly retiring.... The U.S. birthrate hasn't kept up with the retirement pace" (Ibid). He said,
The number of college grads leaving the labor market is at a record high,... We've never seen in the history of California, or the U.S., such a large and highly visible educated cohort of people leaving the labor force. We need more highly educated workers in California (Ibid)
That void is being filled by educated workers from foreign countries. In other words, there is more to the immigration picture than family separations, border walls, caravans, and presidential tweets.
Here are some numbers to consider: "Johnson concluded there are almost 11 million immigrants in California, about a quarter of the foreign-born population nationwide. That's 27% of California, more than double the percentage of foreign-born for the rest of the country" (Ibid)
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| haasinstitute.berkeley.edu |
Here is a interesting (in a good way) fact "...14% of immigrants in California illegally. That's 1.5 million, down from 2 million in 2010" (Ibid).
Of the 11 million immigrants in California, half are from Latin American; 40 percent are from Asia (Ibid). The top countries of origin are: Mexico (4.1 million), China (969,00), the Philippines (857,000), Vietnam (524,000), and India (507,000) (Ibid). Be that as it may, the number of immigrants arriving in California have been predominantly Asia--56 percent versus 29 percent from Latin America (Ibid).
Regardless of what Mr. Donald Trump says or anything he has tried, illegal immigration from Mexico has tapered off. It began early in the first Obama administration and may have partly due to increased deportation. However, the main reason was a better job market in Mexico.
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| oecd.org |
Labor opportunities in Mexico have generally improving,... Population growth has slowed as birthrates have come way down. The number of new workers has declined dramatically, which translates into fewer people in the labor force (Ibid)
Meaning less competition for jobs.
Another reason for falling birthrates is more women are entering the work force. This was a similar phenomenon in developed countries, including the United States. In the interim, California's storied tech hub is a powerful magnet for desperately needed highly educated workforce.
California is nicknamed the Golden State and immigrants are making that gold shine brighter.
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