Hiring immigrants is not just a good investment-it's good business.
Frank came to the US in 2019. Since then, he has started his own remodeling company which specializes in complete remodeling for residential and commercial projects. Click his logo to visit his website.
1. In the next 10 years, immigrants and their children will make up 97% of net workforce growth.
In the next 15 years, Baby Boomers will be retiring from the workplace. Who will replace them? A study conducted by Center for American Progress shows that between 2020 and 2030, 97% of the people filling their positions will be immigrants or children of immigrants. Are you ready to meet this turn in the road?
2. The average immigrant has a higher level of education than the average American.
The talent you have been searching for may have already walked through your doors. Many immigrants are highly skilled in their occupation, but are forced into underemployment because of uncertainty about their credentials or their language skills. Anyone can learn a language, but not every person will be a perfect fit for your company culture and values. Investing in a skill boost is much easier than reforming personalities or constantly trying to find the right fit for your industry.
3. Access untapped talent while raising employee retention and lowering hiring costs.
Many highly skilled immigrants just need to brush up their language and culture skills in order to reclaim their occupational status. Investing in English language learners shows you are investing in their future with your company, resulting in a reduction of hiring costs and an increase in employee retention.
If you have international workers in your company, you have tons of untapped talent!
4. Combat population decline.
According to a study entitled “The Economics of Brain Waste,” the population of many developed countries, including the US, is declining at an alarming rate. 44.3% of these countries’ overall population is fifty years of age or older meaning that immigrants and international workers are becoming essential not only to fill the worker shortage but to boost the population as well. This shows that both high-skilled and other-skilled immigrants are contributing to the economic growth of the US. Investing in foreign workers now is preparation for the future.
5. GDP growth has been linked to increased immigrant populations.
On the local level, a recent report by the Migration Policy Institute notes a compelling trend for cities in the US with an influx of highly skilled immigrants. Five out of the ten states with the highest influx of immigrants also ranked top in the nation for highest GDP growth. Other reports affirm such trends confirming that brain waste among highly skilled immigrants negatively affects a country’s economy. In fact, according to financial experts, employing skilled immigrants at a level that matches their qualifications leads to a higher balance of capital and skill, resulting in higher productivity growth. However, companies that underemploy immigrants are actively losing on investment returns.
6. A deficit of $10.2 billion that everyone is missing out on.
Another report by the Migration Policy Institute reveals that highly skilled immigrants in low-skilled positions earned on average $56,000 less per year than individuals in high-skilled positions. Based on this data, if immigrants in low-skill positions regained their occupational status, the US government would receive an additional estimated $10.2 billion a year in taxes. That is a large piece of the pie that everyone is missing out on.
You may be wondering..
but isn’t time wasted when workers have to acquire the language? Wouldn’t it just be simpler for me to hire someone who already speaks English?
In short, not necessarily.
A philosophical approach...
Learn more.
There is an astounding amount of wealth attached to cultural capital. A modern scholar, Yosso, claims that there are six forms of cultural capital attached to people of color, but that such forms are often unacknowledged and discredited as capital. If you wish to go further back, Bourdieu, a French intellectual, elaborates on other forms of capital besides economic capital. He outlines the three states of capital, namely, economic (things you can buy/sell of monetary value), social (social ties, connections, those off-the -record favors), and cultural. Though cultural capital is abstract in nature it can be made of tangible things (a basket) that have monetary value or knowledge (how to make the basket) which takes much more time to acquire. Bourdieu argues such knowledge is valuable because as we say in the modern world, time is money.
The point is this, the wealth of knowledge and experience someone from a different country brings to your company is intrinsically valuable. Not only did it take years to obtain, it is also a unique and rare set of abilities in the current market, which is naturally full of Americans who, while individuals with particular skills and experiences, are all from a similar culture and were trained with a similar mindset.
