|
April 17, 2004
Presidential
elections 2004 and the issue of
Employment
By Erika Robles/HispanicVista.com
The presidential elections are here. We
can feel the heat building up of what it
could be the most important and most
awaiting election. November is not far
away; and the decision as to whom we want
to lead this country depends on all of
us.
We need a leader who’s going to
address Hispanic issues with truthfulness
and find viable solutions to them. We
need a leader who cares –not with
words, but with actions- about the
Hispanic population. We need to see
results, not just campaign slogans.
The unemployment situation of Hispanics
is worrisome. By January 2004, the
unemployment rate was 7.3 percent. By
March, the rate had gone up to 7.4
percent. This means that more than 1.26
millions of Hispanics are currently
unemployed.
There are over 16 million Hispanic
workers in the U.S. However, the
employment status of a significant
segment of Latinos is characterized by
low-skilled jobs at inadequate wages with
few benefits. There are several factors
to consider as to why heavy
concentrations of Latino workers are in
these types of jobs. The NCLR report
“State of Hispanic America 2004,”
cites these crucial factors: “poor
educational attainment and insufficient
or incorrect preparation for the current
labor market, poor employment networks
through which to seek other
opportunities, geographic location in
regions of the country that have suffered
economic downturns and economic
restructuring, and employment
discrimination.”
The combination of these factors has
prevented them to go up the economic
ladder, leaving them with “unstable
employment, low wages, limited economic
mobility, slow accumulation of assets,
and high poverty, especially among
working families with children.”
The overall Latino labor force
participation rate is of 68.4 percent.
When the 35 percent of Latinos currently
under 18 years of age enter the labor
force, Latino workers will become “more
integral to the U.S. economy, not only in
terms of labor force productivity but
also in taxes paid to support government
services and in consumer spending.”
It’s in the country’s best
interest to invest in the Latino
population. After all, Latinos’
invaluable contributions to the U.S.
economy –Hispanic purchasing power
has now reached over $575 billion- are
destined to keep growing. But there are
still many challenges faced by the Latino
community that prevent many from climbing
the economic ladder. As mentioned
earlier, a large number of Latino workers
lack “sufficient academic and skills
training preparation,” which are key
factors for economic success.
The high percentage of Latinos not
finishing high-school and the very low
percentage attending college stops them
from getting “better jobs and better
wages.” Language barriers
– 27.8 percent of the working-age
Latino population speaks English less
than well- also have a tremendous impact
on their earnings and career advancement
opportunities.
The current funding for Adult Basic
Education –including
English-as-a-Second Language (ESL)- doesn’t
match with the current nationwide demand
for them. “Despite the
effectiveness of ESL and other adult
education services that help Latino
immigrants learn English and increase
their literacy levels,” the NCLR
report continues, “demand for ESL in
communities nationwide has outweighed the
existing supply.”
The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of
1998, which is the major source of
funding for this nation’s skills
training and English acquisition, doesn’t
“address the training needs of the
Latino workforce...” According to
the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), in
the year 2000, 20.4 percent of the
training slots were offered to Hispanics,
compared to 20.4 percent for Blacks and
52.8 percent for Whites.
Education is the key to success in a
competitive country like the U.S. The
Latino community should start acting upon
it and finding ways to increase the
number of Latinos attending college.
However, the federal government also has
a role to play. Adequate funding of the
WIA is an essential component, as well as
the funding of community-based
organizations (CBOs) –which have
been shut out of the WIA system- in order
to improve the employability of Latinos.
Many CBOs have linguistically “knowledgeable
staff and are more accessible to
immigrants with lower English proficiency
than other local agencies.”
It’s a two-way commitment. Job
seekers should be able to enroll in any
type of training services that would
increase their skills and language
acquisition. The Latino community should
also commit –once these programs are
fully accessible- to be participants of
it.
The adequate funding and accessibility of
these programs, and the commitment of the
Latino Community to take advantage of
them, could improve the employability of
Latinos, as well as their wages; having
as a result, a stronger U.S. economy.
_________________________________________________
Erika Robles, a contributing columnist to
HispanicVista.com (www.hispanicvista.com),
is a writer and translator now living in
Eugene, Oregon. She was educated in
Mexico City; London, England; and
Melbourne, Australia. Contact at:
erikare77@hotmail.com. Web page: http://www.geocities.com/oakspublishing
|
