The Boston Globe: “The week’s top business news.”
Date: April 27, 2017
Help wanted: people who can speak more than one language. Even as the Trump administration seeks to limit immigration, employers are increasingly looking to woo immigrants as consumers — and employees. Banks and cellphone providers are hiring employees who can communicate with potential customers in their native tongues. Software firms are seeking out translators and customer service representatives who can help them build their business around the world. And health care providers looking to serve the immigrants in their communities, as well as patients traveling to the United States for medical care, are beefing up their staffs with people who can understand, and convey, their concerns. The number of online job postings targeting bilingual workers more than doubled nationwide between 2010 and 2015, rising 162 percent, according to a new report by New American Economy, a coalition of mayors and business leaders that supports immigration reform. The languages seeing the biggest rise in demand: Chinese, Spanish, and Arabic. Bilingual job listings for higher-end positions, including those in finance and engineering, grew the fastest, but the majority of bilingual jobs didn’t require a bachelor’s degree, including medical assistants and customer service representatives.
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