Why should we care? What can we achieve together?

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Why should we care? What can we achieve together?

• Work-based Literacy Summit

Anson Green Coordinator, Workbased English
Solutions Economic and Workforce
Development Alamo Community Colleges
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• Changing work, Changing workers

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• Changing work

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Changing Work21st Century Jobs
In 1950 20 Professional 60 Unskilled 20 Skilled I In 2000 20 Professional 15 Unskilled 65 Skilled In 2006 20 Professional 5 Unskilled 75 Skilled

• Source - U.S. Department of Commerce - 21st.
  Century Skills for 21st. Century Jobs

• Source - U.S. Department of Commerce - 21st.
  Century Skills for 21st. Century Jobs

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Changing Work High demand for culturally and
linguistically competent workers

• 36 of Texans are Hispanic, yet Hispanics are
  severely underrepresented in Health Services
• 9 RNs
• 7 Nurse Practitioners
• 11 Physician Assistants
• Source U.S. Department of Health and Human
  Services (2003). Border County Health Workforce
  Profiles Texas

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Changing Work Customer Service Expectations

• Frontline employees with limited English are
  often a direct link to customers.
• Poor communication skills can have an indelible
  impression, impacting customers overall
  perception of the quality of a companys
  offerings.
• Source Levenson, A. 2001

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Changing Work Frontline Communication

• Widespread integration of electronic
  communication into the everyday workflow has
  increased the need for good reading skills among
  frontline workers.
• Many companies have eliminated middle management
  and devolved responsibility to frontline workers.
  
• Source Levenson, A. 2001

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Changing workforce
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Changing Workforce News We Must Act On

• First and second-generation immigrants together
  are projected to account for
• all U.S. labor force growth between 2010 and
  2030. Lowell, B., Gelatt, J., Batalova, J., 2006

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Changing WorkforceLabor Pool

• Immigrants in the U.S. labor force reached an
  historic high in 2005 (14.7). In Texas, 15.9.
  Migration Policy Institute, 2006

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Changing WorkforceThe Elevator Speech
The New Texas Challenge, Steve Murdock et al.
2003.
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Changing Workforce Workforce Diversity

• Example San Antonio Workforce
• 220,000 San Antonio area residents are LEP.
  (U.S. Census Bureau, 2006)
• 16.4 growth in the Hispanic population in Bexar
  County from 2000 to 2006. (U.S. Census Bureau,
  2008)
• San Antonio boasts a higher percentage LEP
  residents with bachelor degrees than the state
  average.
• This segment as grown 52 since 2000.
• (Migration Policy Institute, 2008)

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Changing Workforce ExampleLEP Residents with
Bachelor Degrees

Bachelor's Degree or Higher for Certain Language Groups in 2006 Bachelor's Degree or Higher for Certain Language Groups in 2006 Bachelor's Degree or Higher for Certain Language Groups in 2006
Language Texas San Antonio
Spanish 426,926 (10.4) 44,520 (17)
Other Indo-European Languages 153,790 (49.5) 6,244 (52)
Speak Asian and Languages 174,758 (47.5) 4,925 (51)
Speak Other Languages 38,625 (45.8) 794 (68)
Texas State Demographer, Karl Eshenbach, personal
communication.
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Changing Workforce Change Perceptions
Skilled and Degreed Professionals
Low Educational Attainment
While most LEP in Texas have limited education
from their home country, many have marketable
skills and degrees.
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Changing Workforce The Future

• In 20052006, almost half of the Texas public
  school population were Hispanic. Over 34 percent
  of these students were LEP. Texas Education
  Agency, n.d.

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Changing Workforce The Future

• In 2006, only 12 percent of LEP students in
  the twelfth grade passed the Texas Assessment of
  Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test and only 8
  percent of tenth graders passed all TAKS
  standards. Scharrer, 2007

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Why should we care?
What can we achieve together?
Anson Green Coordinator, Workbased English
Solutions Economic and Workforce
Development Alamo Community Colleges