Women in L.A. Made Economic Gains in ‘80s : Earnings: But report says many immigrants with limited English suffered hardships.

Women in Los Angeles County made advances into the ranks of professionals, managers and entrepreneurs during the 1980s, but hardships facing the area’s booming immigrant population prevented many foreign-born workers from sharing in the gains, according to a report released Thursday.

The report, based on an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data by the Los Angeles Women’s Foundation, calls for an expansion of English-language instruction programs to help immigrants lift themselves out of poverty.

Poor proficiency in English and a lack of education in general have created a “sticky floor” holding many immigrants, particularly Latinas, to the bottom of the economic ladder, said Jean T. Conger, the foundation’s executive director.

“The sheer magnitude of immigration has changed the population characteristics of Los Angeles for generations to come.

Over 1 million new members of the Los Angeles community are here residing and working, typically in low-paying jobs, equipped with limited English and limited education,” the 63-page report says.

“The social infrastructure of the county was not prepared, nor has it kept pace with the needs of the immigrant population; an absolute necessity if we are to preserve the economy with integrity for all its members,” it says.

Among the report’s findings:

* In 1990, 16% of Los Angeles County’s work force was not fluent in English, up from 10.5% in 1980. The rate was particularly high among Latinas, at 37.2%.

That is a major concern, the report says, because the poverty rate in 1990 among people who do not speak English well was 28.8%, compared to 10.5% for those fluent in English. In addition, Latinas are the largest ethnic group in the female labor force.

* The percentage of businesses in the county owned by women climbed to 33%, up from 25% in 1980. Half the 153,000 new businesses launched in the county during the decade were founded by women.

* By 1990, women accounted for 43% of the county’s labor force, about the same as in 1980. They also accounted for 43% of professional and managerial workers, up from 36% in 1980.

* The wage gap is gradually narrowing between men and women in Los Angeles County. The foundation found that women earned 73 cents for every $1 earned by men. Other analyses, including one performed by The Times this year, have found that women earn slightly less, about 70 cents, for every dollar men earn.

Among workers ages 19 to 24, the foundation calculated that women in 1990 surpassed men, receiving $1.04 for every $1 earned by men.

But Joyce P. Jacobsen, an expert in gender economics at Wesleyan College in Middletown, Conn., discounted that finding.

“A lot of the people who turn out to be big earners still are in college then” and thus are not included, she said.

Those figures, Jacobsen said, “might just show that young women are paid more for menial work than young men are.”

The Los Angeles Women’s Foundation is a nonprofit philanthropic group founded in 1985 and financed by individual and corporate donors.

The Shrinking Pay Gap

The wage gap between men and women appears to be closing, especially for workers under 35 years old. Here are women’s earnings per dollar earned by men:

Age category 1980 1990 Overall 0.67 0.73 19-24 0.88 1.04 25-34 0.74 0.88 35-44 0.60 0.74 45-54 0.53 0.63 55-64 0.54 0.60 65+ 0.57 0.57

Sources: Los Angeles Women’s Foundation, U.S. Census Bureau