As millions of workers from the baby-boom generation begin retiring, projections indicate that any net growth in the US workforce over the next 20 years will come from new immigrants. These new immigrant workers and their children are expected to play a key role in helping the US weather this historic reshaping of its workforce, and in meeting the soaring demands that will be placed on health and social support programs by the elderly and those extremely old (over 85) over the next 30 years.

Currently, the immigrant labor force has an hourglass shape, with large shares of immigrants at the top and bottom of the skill distribution. Thirty percent of foreign-born workers have less than a high school education, while 28 percent hold a Bachelor’s degree or more – about the same rate as natives.

According to the 2000 Census, approximately 14 million, or nearly 9.5 percent, of all working-age adults in the United States either did not speak English at all or spoke it less than “very well,” and 89 percent of the LEP population was foreign born. The limited response of the current workforce system to the needs of low-skilled immigrant workers is a dominant issue in this area.

Research also indicates that many mid- and high-skilled immigrants face serious difficulties in obtaining recognition for the education, credentials, and work experience they obtained before arriving in the United States. Such workers may also be unfamiliar with American job search techniques and/or need assistance in updating skills or gaining US licensure or credentials in their occupations. Employers and regulatory bodies often lack expertise in comparing education and skill certifications obtained outside the United States, leaving many skilled immigrants working in jobs that require lower skills than they possess.

Improving Immigrant Workers’ Economic Prospects: A Review of the Literature
By Amy Beeler and Julie Murray
Securing the Future: US Immigrant Integration Policy, A Reader
February 2007

The Impact of Immigration on Native Workers: A Fresh Look at the Evidence
By Julie Murray, Jeanne Batalova, and Michael Fix
Task Force Insight No. 18, July 2006

College-Educated Foreign Born in the US Labor Force
By Jeanne Batalova
Migration Information Source, February 2005

The Foreign Born in the US Labor Force
By Elizabeth Grieco, Fact Sheet, January 2004

What Kind of Work Do Immigrants Do?
Occupation and Industry of Foreign-Born Workers in the US
By Elizabeth Grieco, Fact Sheet, January 2004
View Graphs

Nearly half of the growth in the US labor force in the 1990s and 60 percent between 2000 and 2004 was due to new immigrants.

There were over 20 million foreign-born individuals working in the US in 2004 – over half from Latin America and the Caribbean and a quarter from Asia.

One in five doctors in the United States is an immigrant.

While one in eight US residents is an immigrant, one in seven workers and one in five low-wage workers is an immigrant.

Based on the recommendations of the National Research Council's Board on Testing and Assessment, the National Center for Educational Statistics (part of the Department of Education) has convened an expert panel to design a framework for the assessment of adult literacy and will begin the development of a measure of workplace literacy that will be administered as part of the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL). Considerations of the expert panel will include issues related to second-language literacy.

When completed, the framework will answer the following questions:

• How have we defined workplace literacy?
• What will the assessment measure?
• What kinds of items and response formats will be used?
• How many items/prompts will be needed to reliably report results?
• What categories of performance will be reported?

The results of this measure will inform the decisions of policymakers, funders, business leaders, financial and social analysts, researchers, educators, and so on.

A Profile of Immigrants in Arkansas Volume 1: Immigrant Workers, Families, and Their Children
By Randy Capps, Everett Henderson, Donald Hernandez and Michael Fix, 2007.

Bridges to Opportunity: Workforce Development for English Language Learners
Proceedings of the Bridges to Opportunity Conference, LaGuardia Community College in Queens, New York
October 27 and 28, 2006

The Integration of Immigrants in the Workplace
By Peter A. Creticos, James M. Schultz, Amy Beeler, and Eva Ball
Institute for Work and the Economy, July 2006

Creating Opportunities for a Stronger Economy through Language and Career Pathways
By Erin Brown, December 2005

Getting to Work: A Report on How Workers with Limited English Skills Can Prepare for Good Jobs
AFL-CIO Working for America Institute, May 2004

Issues with Outcomes in Workplace ESL Programs
By Miriam Burt
A report submitted to the US Department of Education, Office of Adult and Vocational Education; and the Institute for Work and the Economy,
Center for Applied Linguistics, 2004

Meeting the Challenge of Adult Education: A Bilingual Approach to Literacy and Career Development
By Ana G. Huerta-Macías
Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 47, No. 3 (2003): 218-226

Language, Literacy, and Workforce Development on the US-Mexico Border; Las Cruces, NM
By Heide Spruck Wrigley and J. Powrie
Literacywork International, 2003

The Language of Opportunity: Expanding Employment Prospects for Adults with Limited English Skills
By Heide Spruck Wrigley, Elise Richer, Karin Martinson, Hitomi Kubo, and Julie Straw
Center for Law and Social Policy, 2003

Workforce Education for Latinos: Policies, Programs, and Practices
By Ana G. Huerta-Macias, 2002

Immigrant Earnings: Language Skills, Linguistic Concentrations, and the Business Cycle
By Barry R. Chiswick and Paul W. Miller
Journal of Popular Economics 15 (2002): 31–57.

Workplace Language Teaching and the Intercultural Construction of Ideologies of Competence
By Mira-Lisa Katz
The Canadian Modern Language Review 57, No. 1 (2000):144-172.

Empowering the ESL Worker within the New Work Order
By Rita A. Moore
Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 43 , No. 2 (1999): 142-151.

Two Languages at Work
By Tara Goldstein
Canadian Modern Languages Review 55, No. 2, December 1998

Evaluation of Workplace Literacy Programs: A Profile of Effective Instructional Practices
By Larry Mikulecky and Paul Lloyd
Journal of Literacy Research 29 (1997): 555-585