LOS ANGELES, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- Although earning low wages, immigrants play an essential and dynamic role in the regional economy of Los Angeles, according to a report released on Tuesday.
Immigrants make up nearly half the Los Angeles workforce and contribute nearly 40 percent of the region's gross regional product, with rates of entrepreneurship higher than their native-born counterparts, according to the report by Manuel Pastor and Rhonda Ortiz of the Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration at the University of California.
Despite lower-than-average wages, immigrants also account for more than one-third of the region's spending power, said the report published by the Los Angeles Times.
But the report also found pressing needs for more English classes, job training and leadership development programs to help immigrants acquire the skills needed to keep the state economically competitive as baby boomers age and begin to retire.
About 28 percent of Los Angeles County residents are baby boomers who will eventually need to be replaced in the workforce --many of them by immigrants who on average are less skilled and educated, according to the report.
The report called for more private efforts to help immigrants become better citizens.
The report specifically cited tensions in South Los Angeles, where seven major public high schools, for instance, changed from 85 percent African American in the early 1980s to more than 70 percent Latino today. The report called on continued investment in African American communities.
The lack of English skills was one of the greatest impediments for immigrants to move up the economic ladder, the report noted.
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