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Friday, June 30, 2006
Hispanics have much to offer, study says
It's in N.C.'s interests to help in assimilation, professor says

By Richard Craver
JOURNAL REPORTER

The Hispanic community is establishing roots in the Triad whether it's welcomed or not, according to speakers at a N.C. Bankers Association seminar yesterday at the downtown Marriott.

The sooner that businesses and consumers recognize that reality, the quicker state resources can be dedicated to assimilating Hispanics culturally and economically, said James Johnson Jr., a co-author of a recent study on the economic impact of Hispanics.

"There's no county in North Carolina that's untouched by Hispanic immigration," Johnson said. He is a professor of management in the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

"It's a migration that is maturing and about as permanent as any migration system could be," he said. "So don't expect anybody to be going home anytime soon."

"The Economic Impact of the Hispanic Population on the State of North Carolina," released Jan. 3, determined that there were nearly 601,000 Hispanic residents in 2004.

Yesterday's seminar in Winston-Salem was the first of six statewide discussions on the study.

The researchers found that Hispanics added $9.2 billion to North Carolina's economy in 2004. But there wasa net cost to the state of $61million, or $102 for each Hispanic resident, for schools, health care and prisons to accommodate the rapidly growing immigrant population.

Johnson said that the study found that Hispanics have much younger heads of households, larger family sizes and more people (55 percent) in the "prime working ages" of 18 to 44 than non-Hispanic households (37 percent). It also found that 55 percent of Hispanics are here legally.

"The reason those numbers matter is that it has implications for who's going to take care of our butts as we grow older," Johnson said.

"It is in our enlightened self-interest" to work for the educational and job-training initiatives that help Hispanics blend into North Carolina's culture and economy, Johnson said.

Gerald Chapman, a Greensboro lawyer who specializes in immigration issues, said that the current congressional debate on illegal immigration could have major ramifications on Triad businesses.

Chapman said that proposed U.S. House Bill 4437 would make it a felony to be in the country unlawfully.

It also means, he said, that anyone, including an employer or a service-provider, who assists a person in committing a felony - such as being in the country illegally - can also be charged with a felony. That means that employers who have illegal workers could be subject to jail time and forfeited business assets.

"And I guarantee you there is some prosecutor somewhere looking for a poster boy," Chapman said.

Andrea Bazan-Manson, an immigrant from Argentina and the president of Triangle Community Foundation in Durham, said she is pleased that the immigration issue is drawing local and state debate.

Her group, which advocates on Hispanics economic issues, is pressing for in-state college tuition for the children of illegal immigrants who have been educated in North Carolina schools.

"These students can serve as the bridge to better business communication, more economic growth, because they are bilingual," Bazan-Manson said. "But the out-of-state cost of attending college can be the biggest barrier to some of the brightest Hispanic high-school students.

"As competitive as the global economy is," she said, "we can't afford to lose any brain power in North Carolina."

• Richard Craver can be reached at 727-7376 or at rcraver@wsjournal.com