USC study shows increasing number of California-born residents

California-born residents comprise the majority of the population of the state for the first time in more than a century, according to a USC study released last week.

According to the study, California’s percentage of foreign-born residents grew from 15.1 percent in 1980 to a peak of 27.4 percent in 2007. This number, however, is expected to decline to 26.6 percent in 2010.

Los Angeles County shows parallel trends, the study shows. Foreign-born residents grew from 22.1 percent in 1980 to 36.2 percent in 2006. But that percentage is expected to fall to 35 percent this year.

Meanwhile, the percentage of residents native to the state is projected to increase from 45.5 percent in 1980 to 54 percent in 2010. In Los Angeles, the native share is predicted to rise from 40.8 percent to 49.4 percent within the same time period.

USC professor of urban planning and demography Dowell Myers, who co-authored the the Los Angeles Times study, said the recession and stricter immigration enforcement were two key factors responsible for the change in numbers — fewer migrants are coming in and more are leaving because they can’t find work.

Gary Toebben, president of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, told the Times that the decreased percentage of migrants to California was not surprising. The Los Angeles area alone shed a net 450,000 jobs since 2007, and the state has lost 1.5 million, he said.  Many migrants left the state and to seek jobs elsewhere.

Toebben told the Los Angeles Times that a smaller pool of potential job candidates might compel employers to eliminate pay cuts and furloughs made during the recession.

An increased percentage of native Californians could be good news for the state, several analysts said. Children born to immigrants complete more years of schooling, speak better English and earn more income than their parents, according to several studies.  Natives to the state are also three times more likely to stay in California than their migrant counterparts, Myers said.