Can Immigrants Save Massachusetts' Shrinking Workforce?

The Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, or MIRA, released a new report (featured above) called "New Workers, New Voters. Why Massachusetts Should Recruit, Retain and Train Newcomers." (Photo image courtesy of MIRA)

 

MASSACHUSETTS POPULATION

• Foreign-born persons constitute 14.1% of the state's population

• Since 2000, net domestic migration accounts for a loss of over 46,000 residents per year.

• Since 2000, the net international migration accounted for an influx of 31,770 persons

• If immigrants increasingly comprise the population, they will help the state retain its 10 U.S. Congressional seats.

 

MASSACHUSETTS WORKFORCE

• According to Northeastern University's Center for Labor Market Studies, Mass. remained dependent on the immigrant labor force in 2000-2004.

• By 2004, immigrants accounted for 17% of the state's workforce.

• Through 2015, the state may continue to be overwhelmingly dependent on foreign immigration for its population and labor force growth.

• The Pew Research Center says the working-age population will increase slowly until 2050 (only 37%) – as a result of immigrants and their children.

 

IMMIGRANT ENTREPRENEUERS in MASSACHUSETTS

• A quarter of all the biotech companies was founded by at least one foreign-born person.

• These companies made some $7.6 billion in sales and employed more than 4,000 workers naturalized in 2000-2005.

Source: "New Workers. New Voters. Why Massachusetts Should Recruit, Retain and Train Newcomers," MIRA Coalition report, February 2008.

The Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, or MIRA, released a new report on Feb. 14, 2008, called "New Workers, New Voters. Why Massachusetts Should Recruit, Retain and Train Newcomers."

The bad news in the report is that Massachusetts' population and workforce are still shrinking – which threatens the state's economy and political strength in the U.S. Congress.

The good news, according to MIRA, is that immigrants can turn this economic and political tide around.

MIRA communications director Shuya Ohno spoke to New England Ethnic News by phone about the report on Feb. 15.

Following is the edited and condensed interview.

Your report is called "New Workers, New Voters. Why Massachusetts Should Recruit, Retain and Train Newcomers." So why should Massachusetts recruit, retain and train immigrants?

Looking at the (population) trend over the past several years, Massachusetts can expect to lose one congressional seat (in the U.S. Congress).

Also, the changing economy - in conjunction with the dwindling population, especially among the working-age population - necessitates this view.

It's actually an opportunity for Massachusetts to invest in its workforce so that it is not only stable, but can grow AND respond to the changing demands of the economy.

What population trend are you referring to that indicates that Massachusetts can expect to lose a seat in the U.S. Congress?

Congressional districts will be re-determined and re-allocated according to the 2010 Census data.

By looking at the trend over the past several years, we (Massachusetts) can expect to lose one congressional seat, which means Massachusetts loses the current level of representation in Congress.

That could have (negative) consequences in (a reduction in) all kinds of federal services because so much of that is allocated per population, which is another reason why it's really important to try to recruit workers in general (and) try to retain the people who come here.

The single increasing segment of our population has been immigrant.

One conclusion of the report is that "policies need to take into account the growing number of newcomers who need to learn English." Why should the state or anyone else be concerned about improving immigrants' English-language skills?

The reason why this is so important is (that it is) really an investment in its workforce. English skills is completely tied to wage levels, so that the better the English skill, the higher the wages - which means the higher the state and federal taxes.

You're saying that immigrants' English should be improved because it's tied to higher wages - and therefore increases tax revenues - but why not invest the money in something for non-immigrants? Why not invest in something besides English-skills training?

Worker training is something that the state absolutely needs to invest in. This is true not just in the immigrant population but certainly in the native population - (for which) adult literacy is a very important issue. It's actually an identical issue in a way.

As the Massachusetts economy continues to evolve into a more information-based economy, it's becoming more and more important that Massachusetts be able to deal and respond to that change in the economy.

I'm not saying that English literacy needs to be invested in JUST for the immigrant community. It's actually for the entire workforce of Massachusetts.

By investing in adult literacy, we're creating a larger workforce that's really needed in Massachusetts.

We're losing workers in the state. The prime working-age population, the 20-35 age group, especially is leaving the state.

What's (also) happening in Mass. is that a lot of people are heading into retirement, and over the next five to 10 years, we're expecting a ballooning of the retirement population. The baby boomers will be leaving the workforce. That's been clear from the past two censuses, so that's 20 years of information.

(NEWz Editor's note: According to the Boston Adult Literacy Fund, "[more than] 5,500 adults in Greater Boston are on waiting lists for the chance to learn [to read].")

How much would the Massachusetts workforce suffer without this English-language-skills training for immigrants or non-immigrants?

Many top executives, for all the major industries, (say) that one of the primary concerns for whether to stay in or to relocate to Massachusetts is the availability of a skilled labor force.

And this skilled labor force includes even people who have a minimal level of English-language skills?

That's right, so whether it's in the service or high-tech or retail industry, employers are looking to find a workforce that can actually grow in that business.

(Besides high-tech and retail, the industries for which this workforce is needed includes) hospitals, health care, service industries including hotels, manufacturing – across the board, agriculture, dairy farms.

While there isn't a lot of agriculture in Massachusetts, there IS some, such as apple farms and orchards.

Are you saying that companies will move out of Massachusetts if they can't get lower-skill workers, not just workers at the higher end of skilled labor?

Yes. The focus goes on the highest-skilled levels, but it actually is everybody else (too) - whether it's in transportation or in support or even in janitorial services, or in hotels or hospitals. It's not just the doctors or the Ph.D.s that we're concerned about.

This is why hospitals today and certainly healthcare, which is a major industry in Massachusetts, recognize the NEED to invest in English (literacy training). A lot of businesses are now looking at this as an investment in their employees.

What's the source of this information that all these various industries need lower-skilled workers, including immigrants?

That actually is a MassINC report, and the BRA, the Boston Redevelopment Authority, released numbers on that recently.

Another conclusion of the MIRA report is that lawmakers should consider expanding policies like the Citizenship for New Americans program. First, what is the Citizenship for New Americans program?

It's a program of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It's actually money given to a lot of community groups (to operate and offer citizenship programs).

It's to educate immigrants who are in the process of getting their citizenship. It makes sure that they understand all the hoops that they have to jump through (in order to become citizens), and that they understand all the (citizenship) forms and documents.

Why is it so important to have policies or programs like the Citizenship for New Americans (CNA) program?

The process (to become a citizen) has so many hurdles that actually are unintended, such as language barriers for (those who are non-English-proficient).

It is often difficult for working families to take the time out to learn basic civics of the country and to learn American history to a level (required for citizenship) that most Americans don't know.

And now, the (citizenship) test has been redesigned to ask not just facts, but context and ideas also.

Right now in the state (of Massachusetts), the waiting list for English classes is tremendous.

What would be the worse thing that would happen if we didn't have this CNA program? Would it be that people would just have to wait longer to become citizens--

Or they may not become citizens at all. And we're losing out on the full participation of the GROWING percentage of our population here of people who want to become American (citizens) and participate in electoral politics.

What did your report find about the voting behavior and the political clout of immigrants?

Both the (voting) participation and the political clout of immigrant communities are definitely growing, across the state and in the cities (of Massachusetts).

In some communities, it's more significant that in others – for instance, for Latinos in Middlesex County, or in Chinatown (Boston).

Can you elaborate on that?

Yes. We did a study, actually, that's not covered here (in MIRA's new report), in immigrant communities when we've done voter registration.

In the last two years or so, we've tracked some of the people we've registered. The voting rate is actually above 80%.

In other words, 80% of new (immigrant) citizens who've recently registered to vote, actually went out to vote, at an 80% rate. This was in 2006, for the midterm elections.

Between 1999 and 2005, the Chinatown voter turnout has tripled.

How were you able to determine this 80% figure? That seems incredibly high.

It surprised us, but we made sure that we had a large-enough sample.

It was just basically tracking people and calling (them statewide). It's basically sampling techniques that any social scientist uses. Graduate students (working for MIRA) actually called and talked to people across the state who were new immigrant citizens and asked them if they had voted.

The point is that with increase in voter turnout of new Americans, this equates to a greater political participation and, therefore, political power of immigrant communities.

For the threefold increase in voter turnout in Chinatown (in Boston) in 1999-2005, how do you know that it was mostly immigrants behind this increase? How much of this increase in voter turnout came from non-immigrants, such as those who have moved to the new high-rises built in Chinatown since 1999?

From an anecdotal perspective, I actually worked the polls in Chinatown. There are two polling locations. One covers kind of the South End neighborhood; and the other, the Chinatown location. You [saw] the difference of Chinese Americans lined up for the Chinatown location.

You can find this not just anecdotally, but you can certainly see the result at the voter file (for the City of Boston), which is public information. You can actually look up every voter in Boston at City Hall – and you will see the increase in Chinese (last) names.

Is there anything else that you would like to elaborate on?

I think those are the main points – the need for Massachusetts to recruit and to retain immigrant workers, and the need to make sure that workers in general are properly trained, to respond to the changing economic environment.

Source: EthnicNewz.org

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