Los Angeles on the Leading Edge: Immigrant Integration Indicators and their Policy Implications

This report seeks to provide an analytical framework for considering key immigrant integration indicators and their policy implications within and across key policy and service areas, levels of government, and stakeholder constituencies who must act on them. To do so, authors examine the large presence of unauthorized and mixed-status families, and the growing size of the second generation and its concerns within Los Angeles County and in California, drawing comparisons to broader national demographic trends and rationales for immigrant integration. They then review individual program and service areas that are particularly relevant to the discussion of immigrant integration indicators with respect to the labor market, English language education, K-12 education, poverty, and healthcare.

The report’s key findings indicate that the challenge of economic integration affects immigrants in both high and low skilled occupations, as educational attainment does not guarantee smooth integration into the labor market. Insufficiencies in adult literacy education, both in supply and scope, further exacerbate this underutilization of the immigrant labor force. Furthermore, language acquisition seems to be a problem not only for the foreign-born, but also for second and third generation children of immigrants, who comprise the bulk of K-12 English language learner population. These issues, coupled with noncitizens’ higher poverty rates and lower participation rates for public benefit programs—in particular, those concerning health care and health insurance—point to a need for both the public and private sector to take a more proactive approach to immigrant integration.

Authors conclude with a number of recommendations for stakeholders.