The keys to a strong future for Minnesota's economy lie in education and in making a place for immigrant workers. That was the message delivered Tuesday to the Twin City Area Labor Management Council at a lunchtime seminar.
The featured speakers were Tom Gillaspy, Minnesota's state demographer, and Teresa Ortiz, director of the Centro de Derechos Laborales (Immigrant Workers' Rights Center) at the Minneapolis-based Resource Center of the Americas.
"Productivity increases are key to our future," Gillaspy said, as he outlined how changing demographics are creating a workforce that is both aging and also growing more slowly.
"Education is critical to productivity increases," he added, noting that "our children will be facing a much more competitive world. They will be competing eyeball to eyeball with people all over the world."
"We do not want to compete for the lowest-wage jobs," Gillaspy continued. "We want to compete for the high-wage, high-skill jobs with the highest productivity."
The first wave of baby boomers will reach age 65 in 2011, Gillaspy noted. Boomers' retirement raises the question: who will fill their jobs? "We're going to see a dramatic slowdown in the rate of growth of our labor force," he said.
In-migration to the state will be critical to maintain growth in the labor force, which historically has been the chief component of overall economic growth, Gillaspy said. "The question is, will we experience enough in-migration?"
And, will the state provide the education and training opportunities so that immigrant workers can become part of the highly-skilled workforce Minnesota will need to compete in the global economy?
"We need to substantially increase the level of educational attainment, especially for people of color," Gillaspy said. That change needs to be dramatic and soon, he emphasized, "not gradually over the next 20 or 30 years."
Although immigrants may be the key to the state's economic future, many recent immigrants find themselves in the lowest-paid jobs, Ortiz noted. They're also vulnerable because they often don't know their rights as workers and because many lack proper documentation to work in the U.S.
Ortiz noted the contradiction between the business community's need for immigrant workers and the nation's restrictive immigration laws. "We have families that are contributing so much to our communities? and yet they do not have the documentation," she said. "Millions of people who are productive find themselves in a no-win situation."
Ortiz noted how immigrant workers increasingly represent a large proportion of membership in unions like UNITE-HERE and SEIU.
Yet, as an immigrant worker advocate, Ortiz said she often hears "'Yes, I do have a union, yes, I do pay dues, but I don't feel I'm represented.'"
She challenged the labor movement to take on immigrant workers' concerns and stand together in solidarity so that all workers will gain protection and opportunity.
For more information
State demographer: www.mnplan.state.mn.us
Immigrant Workers' Rights Center: www.americas.org
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The keys to a strong future for Minnesota’s economy lie in education and in making a place for immigrant workers. That was the message delivered Tuesday to the Twin City Area Labor Management Council at a lunchtime seminar.
The featured speakers were Tom Gillaspy, Minnesota’s state demographer, and Teresa Ortiz, director of the Centro de Derechos Laborales (Immigrant Workers’ Rights Center) at the Minneapolis-based Resource Center of the Americas.
“Productivity increases are key to our future,” Gillaspy said, as he outlined how changing demographics are creating a workforce that is both aging and also growing more slowly.
“Education is critical to productivity increases,” he added, noting that “our children will be facing a much more competitive world. They will be competing eyeball to eyeball with people all over the world.”
“We do not want to compete for the lowest-wage jobs,” Gillaspy continued. “We want to compete for the high-wage, high-skill jobs with the highest productivity.”
The first wave of baby boomers will reach age 65 in 2011, Gillaspy noted. Boomers’ retirement raises the question: who will fill their jobs? “We’re going to see a dramatic slowdown in the rate of growth of our labor force,” he said.
In-migration to the state will be critical to maintain growth in the labor force, which historically has been the chief component of overall economic growth, Gillaspy said. “The question is, will we experience enough in-migration?”
And, will the state provide the education and training opportunities so that immigrant workers can become part of the highly-skilled workforce Minnesota will need to compete in the global economy?
“We need to substantially increase the level of educational attainment, especially for people of color,” Gillaspy said. That change needs to be dramatic and soon, he emphasized, “not gradually over the next 20 or 30 years.”
Although immigrants may be the key to the state’s economic future, many recent immigrants find themselves in the lowest-paid jobs, Ortiz noted. They’re also vulnerable because they often don’t know their rights as workers and because many lack proper documentation to work in the U.S.
Ortiz noted the contradiction between the business community’s need for immigrant workers and the nation’s restrictive immigration laws. “We have families that are contributing so much to our communities? and yet they do not have the documentation,” she said. “Millions of people who are productive find themselves in a no-win situation.”
Ortiz noted how immigrant workers increasingly represent a large proportion of membership in unions like UNITE-HERE and SEIU.
Yet, as an immigrant worker advocate, Ortiz said she often hears “‘Yes, I do have a union, yes, I do pay dues, but I don’t feel I’m represented.'”
She challenged the labor movement to take on immigrant workers’ concerns and stand together in solidarity so that all workers will gain protection and opportunity.
For more information
State demographer: www.mnplan.state.mn.us
Immigrant Workers’ Rights Center: www.americas.org