Combining English and Vocational Training Helps Workers With Limited English Proficiency Get Good Jobs

Immigrants arriving in the United States after 1990 accounted for over 50 percent of the recent growth in the civilian labor force¹. According to the 2000 census figures, approximately 29 million foreign-born individuals live here, making up more than 11 percent of the population, and 12.4 percent of the national labor force². Immigrant workers also head up 20 percent of low-income families³ . Furthermore, the number of immigrant workers who are union members has increased since 1996 while the number of native-born union members has declined in that same period⁴. With these statistics, it is no wonder that many unions and their employer partners want to build bridges to immigrant workers and their communities to help them get good jobs with family sustaining wages.

One of the challenges facing those who are looking to incorporate recent immigrants into the workforce is how to address the training and occupational needs of workers with limited English proficiency (LEP). All too often, limited English skills combined continued on page 2 with low educational attainment in their native language keep immigrant workers out of occupational training programs. For example, most of the programs funded through the nation’s public workforce development dollars are geared towards workers with at least a 9th grade level of education. Based on calculations of the Urban Institute, among low-wage immigrant workers, 28 percent have not completed the 9th grade. Even those who have higher levels of education (another 28 percent have a Bachelor’s degree or higher ⁵) may still have difficulty passing qualifying tests if they are given in written English.

Unions, employers and training program professionals want to know the right mix of language and occupational instruction. Do workers need English before they can benefit from a training program? How can foreign trained workers with advanced skills get the certifications they need to continued on page 3 work in the United States in their field of expertise? What kind of preparation helps immigrant workers with limited English proficiency quickly qualify for career ladder training?

To find the answers to these and other questions, the AFL-CIO Working for America Institute took a look at promising practices in meeting both the language and occupational skill needs of immigrant workers in eight manufacturing, health care, hospitality, and construction training programs. The results of that investigation have just been released in Getting to Work: A Report on How Workers with Limited English Skills Can Prepare for Good Jobs. Despite the industry differences and varied objectives of these programs, the Institute discovered common conceptualization and design steps—and some particularly encouraging practices—that should be helpful to both start-up and existing programs. Observation of these programs and their practices also led the Institute to the following program and policy hypotheses:

• Fluency and/or literacy in English are not pre-requisites for securing a family-sustaining job;
• Tailoring the content of English language instruction and occupational training to the requirements of specific jobs permits faster, successful job placement, retention, and advancement.
• Continuing English instruction is in the long-term interest of limited English proficient workers along with their employers and communities.

Nevertheless, even these highly successful programs faced challenges in trying to meet the training and job placement needs of LEP workers. The six most common and difficult challenges appeared to be:

• appropriate use of learner assessment tools and assessment results;
• participant data tracking and evaluation;
• curriculum development;
• staff development;
• funding; and
• issues of equity and equality on the job.

The report suggests some solutions to each of these challenges. It also makes recommendations to a variety of institutions about how they can improve programs that serve workers with limited English proficiency.

To download a copy of the report, please see our website at www.workingforamerica.org. Hard copies are available for $5.00 each by contacting info@workingforamerica.org or calling Jean Pierce at 202-974-8123.

¹ Sum, Fogg, Harrington, et al, Immigrant Workers and the Great American Job Machine: The Contributions of New Foreign Immigration to National and Regional Labor Force in the 1990s (National Business Roundtable, August 2002) pp. 17-18

² Schmidley, D., Profile of the Foreign-Born Population in the United States: 2000, Current Population Reports-Special Studies, U.S. Census Bureau, Series P23-206 (December 2001).

³ Fix, M., Urban Institute. Tabulations of Current Population Survey (Nov. 2001)

⁴ Migration Policy Institute, Immigration Facts, May 2004, No. 7.

⁵ Capps, R., Fix, M., Passel, J.S., Ost, J., Perez-Lopez, D. Immigrant Families and Workers, Urban Institute. Brief No.4, November 2003.

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