Former Biden White House Advisor and W/A Senior Advisor Seth Harris joined a panel of experts for a live discussion last week on the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data on the foreign-born workforce.
Harris was joined by Dr. Katie Brown, founder and Chief Education Officer of EnGen; Antonio Tijerino, President and CEO of the Hispanic Heritage Foundation; and Guillermo Corea, Managing Director of SHRM Labs.
The conversation was moderated by W/A’s own Carlos Ignacio Zavala.
On May 18, the Bureau of Labor Statistics published its annual report on foreign-born workers, which now represent nearly 20 percent of the workforce.
In a moment of seemingly endemic labor market shortages, the foreign-born workforce holds profound and often untapped potential. But the jobless rate for foreign-born workers still hovers above its pre-pandemic levels, even though they accounted for more than half of the labor market gains compared to native-born Americans.
In addition to explaining the scope and origins of engaging larger numbers of foreign-born workers, the discussion focused on the way in which savvy employers from Taziki’s Mediterranean Café to Amazon are investing in “upskilling with English” to attract and retain growing numbers of foreign-born workers to close talent gaps.
