Speech #880082236

In addition to the monetary value of an education. the underlying philosophy of the Peace Corps well illustrates the point: the United States sends skilled. professional and technically proficient persons to developing nations whose economic and cultural levels may thereby be lifted and improved. The great success of this Peace Corps idea abroad may be said to operate with equal success in the reversethat skilled technicians and knowledgeable persons from other countries can and have helped improve the American economic and cultural levels. There is no doubt that every educated immigrant admitted into the country adds Immeasurably to our economic and social wealth. The training of professional and technical workers is a costly undertaking and represents a substantial national economic investment. August. 23 It has been estimated that it costs $35.000 to raise a child and send him through college. If this estimate Is correct. then the immigrant scientists and engineers who came here since 1952 represented an investment in human capital of approximately $1.25 billion. Together with other highly trained and educated immigrants. the United States has received about $3.5 billion in human capital since 1952 because of immigration. Thus. because a large number of immigrants to this country are fully trained when they arrive. the United States. as the receiving country. benefits greatly from the education and training acquired In the nation of the immigrants origin. Not only do they bring with them a wide diversity of knowledge. education. and training which is badly needed throughout our economy. but they also bring with them a willingness to work. The fifth point regarding the impact of immigration on the economy is that. particularly during the coming decade. immigrants can help us make up for a shortage of people in the central age ranges. from 25 through 44. We are indeed in critically short supply of workers in this age bracket. because during the depression years of the 1930s the number of children born in the United States fell off sharply. The 1930 babies are now in the 25to44 age bracket. a group which normally supplies many of the skilled workers. technicians. and middle management personnel and a group relied on heavily by employers. In 1960 only about 26 percent of the U.S. population was in that age rangeconsidered by economists the prime years of a persons working life. Census Bureau figures show that an increasingly high proportion of immigrants admitted to the United States in recent years has been in the 25to44 age range.