Foreign-born Americans comprise more than 10 percent of the population, and roughly 15 percent of the labor force, and half of net labor force increases. More than 50 percent of foreign-born workers are from Latin America. One-quarter are from Asia. Assuming current immigration levels continue, immigrants will account for about half of the growth in America's working age population between now and 2015, and will account for most of the growth through 2025.
U.S. Census data show that fewer than one in four Mexican-born immigrants speak English well, while only about 40 percent of other Hispanic, Asian, and European (non English-speaking countries) immigrants speak English. With nearly half of all non-English speaking immigrants to the U.S. self-reporting as unable to speak English well, language is proving to be a major barrier to upward mobility.
Lack of Proficient English Limits Promotion Opportunities
A survey by The Conference Board of senior HR, training and development executives finds that 66 percent of companies do not provide English language skills in their training programs. Among this group, more than half said this is because they "have not found a need to warrant such training," even though more than 80 percent report employing English deficient employees. Some of these companies have found alternative means for accommodating such employees. For example, one in five report using bilingual supervisors.
Companies that don't provide training say they would include English language skills in their training programs if it would result in increased productivity. More than half said that performance gains would drive their inclusion, with 27 percent choosing increased productivity, and 27 percent identifying employee engagement.
In a recent Conference Board report, Are They Really Ready to Work, a majority of employers (more than 60 percent) report that "English language" skills are very important for new workforce entrants to be successful. Most studies find a strong, positive relationship between English proficiency and earnings. To the extent that wages can be used to measure productivity, improving language proficiency could result in significant productivity increases. Studies show that immigrant workers who report speaking English "well" or "very well" earn between 5 and 15 percent more than those who report speaking English "not well" or "not at all."
A lack of English proficiency can also limit promotion opportunities. Companies that provide English language training report that 25 percent of their immigrant workforce have English language skills that would limit their promotion opportunities.
