Everybody Wins: Driving Inclusion and Economic Opportunity with a Multilingual Workforce

New data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services suggests that new immigrants – including refugees and asylum seekers – can add $124 billion to the U.S. economy over the next 15 years through payroll, income, and taxes.

This is good news for our economy – and it can be great news for our workforce too, if we make intentional investments that ensure these newcomers can access workforce development programs and efforts.

English is a foundational skill for newcomer workforce inclusion. Yet the truth is that the U.S. currently serves the needs of only 4% of our adult English learners, blocking many multilingual workers from workforce training opportunities and pathways to careers in high-demand fields with family-sustaining wages.

There is good news: We know how to fill this gap with a high-impact approach to English instruction that can be delivered at scale to meet the needs of the estimated 13 million adult English learners currently in the U.S. workforce – and the tens of thousands of new immigrants that have arrived in our communities over the past year.

In this recording, presenter Katie Brown, Founder and Chief Educational Officer of EnGen, will share how public-private partnerships, employer-driven programs, and workforce development organizations across the country are part of a trailblazing effort to provide English upskilling for the 96% currently not served by our current infrastructure. Together, we’re setting the stage for an inclusive workforce and thriving economy.

CWDP Competency 2: Diversity in Workforce Development