Advancing Competitiveness Through Latino Immigrant Worker Success

Publication Date: 04/21/2011

Work is an asset, not a barrier, to gaining an education. According to “Advancing American Economic Competitiveness Through Latino Immigrant Worker Success,” a report sponsored by the Lumina Foundation for Education, the workplace presents a tremendous opportunity for increasing access to postsecondary education and training, especially for working Latino adults.

Regardless of the current economic woes, the workforce in 2014 will be strongly defined by two factors: the departure of large numbers of “baby boomers” and the rapid growth of the Hispanic workforce. These legal immigrants need greater postsecondary opportunities in order to fill expected gaps in industry sectors related to infrastructure and green manufacturing.

Hispanic workers overall are young and have the highest labor force participation rate of any major race and ethnic group— at 68.5 percent in 2008. Just over 50 percent of foreign born Hispanics in particular had less than a high school education in 2005.

“Providing access to higher education for Latino workers is vital in the nation’s ability to grow an educated and skilled workforce,” said Jeannine La Prad, President and CEO of the Corporation for a Skilled Workforce, which led the study. “The policies and practices that support immigrant Latino workers help advance all workers.”

Specifically, the research discusses the following five key principles for shaping policy:    

  1. Create a Sense of Urgency. Educating and advancing Latino workers is an economic and workforce competitiveness issue. Investment in the preparation of these workers is critical for economic recovery and sustainability.
  2. Advance the Transformation of K-20 Education. The skilled jobs of today require additional education beyond a diploma. Innovative approaches and models are needed to better serve students and increase Latino worker credential attainment.
  3. Treat Work as an Asset to Learning and Education. Effective partnerships and programs view employment as an asset to higher education and career advancement, not a barrier.
  4. Encourage and Incent Collaboration. In our complex and fast-changing world, individuals, organizations, communities and systems can no longer reach their goals or face their challenges in isolation.
  5. Promote Progressive Employer Practices. Adoption and implementation of socially responsible workplace policies and practices help build an environment that promotes Latino worker advancement and success.

This report builds on the 2008 report, “Building Tomorrow’s Workforce: Promoting the Education and Advancement of Hispanic Immigrant Workers in America,” which promoted public-private partnerships between community colleges and employers that work together to build the skills of documented Latino immigrantworkers. To arrange for interviews, please contact Kysha Frazier at 734-769-2900 ext 244 or kfrazier@skilledwork.org. Contributors to this report, in addition to CSW, include Excelencia and the National Council for Workforce Education.

Corporation for a Skilled Workforce (CSW) is a national nonprofit organization that helps communities develop good jobs and the highly skilled workers to fill them so that families and firms can prosper. Since 1991, CSW has been a leader and trusted partner in helping business, government and community stakeholders collaborate, plan, and invest in their futures­­­­ ­­—sustainably—to help states and communities thrive. Through CSW’s research and policy work we help develop creative economic, workforce, and community development partnerships and solutions.

Excelencia in Education, a national non-profit, aims to accelerate higher education success for Latino students by providing data-driven analysis of the educational status of Latino students, and by promoting education policies and institutional practices that support their academic achievement. Excelencia is building a network of results-oriented educators and policymakers, adding value to their individual efforts with the means and momentum to address the U.S. economy’s need for a highly educated workforce.

The National Council for Workforce Education is a private, nonprofit, professional organization committed to promoting excellence and growth in workforce education at the postsecondary level. NCWE, an affiliate council of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), provides a national forum for administrators and faculty in occupational, vocational, technical, and career education as well as representatives of business, labor, military and government, to affect and direct the future role of two-year and other postsecondary institutions in work-related education.

Lumina Foundation for Education is an Indianapolis-based private foundation dedicated to expanding access to and success in education beyond high school.