Building the New High Road: Immigrants & Workforce Development

As the U.S. workforce continues to age, immigrants play an increasingly important role in meeting skill needs in strategic sectors of the U.S. economy, including healthcare, transportation, manufacturing, farming, education, and food services. At the same time, many immigrants in the U.S. lack access to key workforce development and career advancement supports. This brief seeks to better understand the landscape of programs, policies, and practices intended to strengthen immigrant inclusion in the workforce. The report draws on data from 131 applicants to the Mariam Assefa fund of World Education Services. In 2021, the Fund sponsored an open grant competition for programs working to improve employer practices and develop effective career pathways for immigrants and refugees. The findings present a mixed picture. The programs studied, most of them run by relatively small nonprofits, are more likely to focus on newly-arrived immigrants than longer term residents and work mainly with economic migrants and refugees. While most programs plan to work with employers, only one quarter have direct hiring relationships. Most work outside the traditional secondary or postsecondary education system, and focus on skills to enter the labor market rather than advance in it. At the same time, job quality is an increasing priority for a majority of the organizations, with a focus on increasing wages, career advancement, and inclusive workplace environments. The report also identifies areas where there is a need for new models and investment. These include transferability of skills and credentials, more work-integrated learning, career mobility, educational partnerships, and expanding programs in geographic regions with large groups of new arrivals. Finally, the report notes the lack of system-wide evidence as to which models work and why, and calls for new research into which approaches lead to effective workforce outcomes for immigrant populations and meaningful change in employer practices. (Jeffrey Gross, Ph.D.)

Download now or view online.