- WASHINGTON (AFP) - One in
seven members of the US workforce was born overseas, largely Latinos employed
in low-income jobs, a new congressional study said.
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- That proportion is up from one in 10 a decade ago, and
is set to rise further as US-born baby boomers retire, the study by the
cross-party Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said.
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- In 2004, more than 21 million workers were foreign-born,
and half of them had arrived since 1990. Almost 40 percent of them were
from Mexico and Central America, while 25 percent were from Asia.
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- Three-quarters of the Latinos were in jobs that have
"minimal educational requirements" such as builders and dishwashers,
and typically earned much less than native-born workers, the study said.
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- But immigrants from other parts of the world, by and
large, are better educated than the average American with a higher percentage
having undertaken graduate studies.
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- "With the projected slowdown in the growth of the
native workforce as the baby-boom generation reaches retirement age, immigrants
are likely to hold an even greater share of jobs in the future," the
report said.
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- "Barring substantial shifts in demographic trends,
immigrants and their descendants are expected to provide the majority of
the nation's population growth during the next half century," it added.
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- In keeping with its non-partisan mandate, the CBO did
not offer any policy recommendations in its study.
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- But the report coincides with mounting debate in the
United States over illegal immigration and a push by President George W.
Bush to engage the fast-growing Hispanic community, which has traditionally
voted Democrat.
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- Last month, Bush sought in a weekly radio address to
woo back disenchanted conservative allies by arguing he has a problem with
"too many illegal immigrants".
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- But he also revived his pitch for a guest worker programme
for Mexicans and other foreigners that was initially unveiled last year
but shifted to the backburner under heavy criticism from conservative groups.
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- The plan would allow illegal aliens to get work visas
for three years, but they would have to return to their home countries
if they wanted a three-year extension.
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- The plan enjoys strong support from the US business community,
which is hungry for more construction workers and farm hands. But many
in Bush's own Republican party have expressed strong opposition.
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- The CBO said it was hard to quantify the number of illegal
aliens living in the United States.
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- But it cited one recent analysis based on data from the
US census and federal agencies that estimated that in early 2004, about
10 million foreigners were in the country illegally and about 6.3 million
of them were working.
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- According to the last census in 2004, 34 million of the
US population of 288 million people were born abroad. At 12 percent, that
was the highest proportion of foreign-born Americans recorded in 70 years.
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- © Copyright Agence France-Presse.
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