U. study may help Mexico, Utah connect
The study, "The Economic Impact of the Mexico-Utah Relationship," commenced in mid-2005 after a request from Mexican Consul Salvador Jimenez Munoz.
The work is largely a compilation of data from an array of sources — local, national and international — and explores five "economic linkages" between Utah and Mexico: the Mexican population here, trade relations, financial relations, tourism and access by undocumented students to a university education.
Findings in all five categories underscored the growing influence and importance of the Mexican community in Utah, and the growing interconnectedness between the two, said J. Steven Ott, dean of the university's College of Social and Behavioral Science.
"What it says to me, over and over again, is how rich, how deep, how varied and how close the ties are between Utah and Mexico and Mexican-Americans," Ott said. "It isn't just commerce. It isn't just flow. It isn't just people who, by the way, absolutely staff the service industry in the state of Utah — particularly tourism but not limited to it. The weaving together of Mexican immigrants in the state of Utah politically, economically and socially, is just beyond my imagination."
"An important aspect of my work is to promote a closer and stronger relationship between our country and Utah," Jimenez Munoz said. "However, how can we do this when the knowledge and information is based on misconceptions about our people who come to live and work here?
"That is why it is so important to us, when we are trying to build a strong relationship with Utah, that we use objective and reliable information that describes the reality of many contributions of Mexicans in Utah: with their work, culture, traditions and family values."
While Mexican immigrants in Utah are business owners, homeowners, shoppers and students (the percentage of Hispanic high school graduates is expected to be 24 percent of all Utah high school graduates by 2018), the study also found that 12 of the top 25 jobs held by Mexicans are tourism-related, 32 percent of Utah's Mexican immigrants have at least a high school diploma (compared to 80.4 percent of the total U.S. population), and about half of the state's Mexican immigrants are undocumented.
Mexico also ranked 8th in Utah exports in 2004, at $122 million. That same year, remittances from Utah to Mexico totaled about $148 million, and Utah imports from Mexico totaled about $308 million.
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