After a couple of years of writing HTM, I found that most people were contacting me via my name rather than my blog. So – I’ve made the decision to move my blog to a new domain, MiguelACorona.com. I’ve transferred all the posts from HTM to the new site.
More importantly, I did a lot of updating behind the scences including using a new premium theme which should help with a lot of the technical aspects of writing a blog.
The National Employment Law Project released a report outlining what types of jobs (by wage) were lost during the Great Recession. According to the report, most of the jobs coming back during this slow recovery have been concentrated in the low wage category. Mid to higher wage jobs have not returned as quickly.
And while many Latinos have found work in the recovering lower wage category, these jobs don’t drive economic growth – or provide a bright future for a growing community.
PEW Hispanic Research just came out with a report that examines the impact of the “Great Recession” on the economic vitality of Latinos. Net worth for Latinos fell 66% – mostly related to home losses. Without a doubt, Latinos (and other minorities) were hit the hardest by the last recession. When it comes to employment numbers, the Latino workforce was impacted significantly:
Job losses were higher for Hispanic and black workers than for whites. The Hispanic unemployment rate (nonseasonally adjusted) increased from 5.9% in the fourth quarter of 2007 to 12.6% in the fourth quarter of 2009. The black unemployment rate increased from 8.6% to 15.6%. The increase in the unemployment rate for whites was much less, from 3.7% to 8.0%.
My father was a union member for most his career in the steel industry. He literally helped form many of the huge steel frames that created the L.A. freeway system. A couple members of my family are union professionals so this article by Latino Decisions resonates with me personally. It’s a great write up on Latinos and labor union participation over the last few decades. Latinos, who are disproportionately represented in low wage jobs, have much to lose in the on-going union busting battles occurring across the United States, including in my new backyard of Wisconsin. The issue has far reaching implications for the Latino workforce:
Multi-generation Latinos have a lot at stake in the current battle to curtail the power of public sector unions. Latinos disproportionately represent low-wage jobs and have relied heavily on the efforts of unions to negotiate fair wages and benefits. If the power of unions is severely curtailed, many Latinos may be left without this protection. This vulnerability for Latinos is confounded by the fact that they are one of the least likely groups to obtain a higher education (U.S. Dept. of Education 2010). Unions play an even greater role in diminishing wage inequalities for workers without college degrees (Agbede 2011).
Glenn Llopis makes a great case for multicultural talent matching multicultural marketing. Ironically, as Glenn notes, many organizations still “don’t’ get it.”
To authentically capture the growing multicultural market segments in America, corporations must be more strategic in how they integrate multicultural talent to support business growth. For example, just because Hispanic purchasing power is estimated to reach $1.2 trillion by 2012 does not mean that a company will be successful in its efforts to market to this emerging consumer group. As a result, corporations must get smarter about developing its multicultural talent to lead their multicultural business activities.
It’s simple: organizations need to develop a workforce that grasps the nuances of the consumers it’s targeting. Diversity in workforce is no longer the “right” thing to do – it makes economic sense.
The importance of “emotional connection” in marketing and recruitment cannot be understated. Latino consumer emotional connections go beyond a brand’s logical characteristics. For many Latinos, an emotional connection is created psychologically- often unconsciously. The same can be said about prospective Latino employees. Today’s Latino job seekers search for an organization that has an increased sense of purpose and commitment to the Latino community. Hence, the same characteristics that help position brands to Latinos can also help promote an organization as an employer of choice.
This emotional connection is especially true of Latino talent. My doctorate work focused on the emotional intelligence attributes of Latino professionals and showed that Latinos are highly influenced by emotional intelligence when making decisions. As a result, when Latino job seekers make decisions about which organizations to join, they will often follow their emotional instincts.
I came across this great study by the consulting firm Garcia Trujillo and Newslink (video below) which highlights the emotional connection organizations have with Latinos, or lack thereof. Unfortunately, many organizations still fail in doing so. According to the results:
About one-in-three Hispanics (35%) believe they get a fair shake in the workplace, but nearly two-thirds (65%) report that Hispanic workers face serious obstacles to advancement….
60% [of Latinos] believe U.S. companies are committed to their Hispanic employees; however, when asked to estimate how many Hispanics are currently in management or in leadership roles in companies in the U.S., most Hispanics thought it was 10% or less. Still, more than nine of ten respondents said that it is “very important” (63%) or “important” (34%) for U.S. companies to hire Hispanics in management positions.
My research and this study clearly show that it takes more than branding to recruit and retain Latino talent. Organizations need to “emotionally connect” with Latino talent to effectively recruit them. Organizations not only have to present a compelling reason to attract Latino talent, but provide a better reason to keep them.
I was incredibly busy yesterday managing our relocation to Madison, home sale stuff, packing, teaching, kids – but was literally stopped in my tracks listening to this segment (A Penny a Pound) via The Story on NPR.
Hard to believe that farmworkers still struggle to gain the most basic worker’s rights. The Florida farmworkers in this piece are making progress, but it’s quite shocking what they need to do. Shameful what some of these growers and grocery stores are not willing to do.
For most people considering law school, this question is hardly an easy one. Law schools, however, make it much harder than it needs to be by publishing misleading data about their employment statistics. Many law schools all but explicitly promise that, within a few months of graduation, practically all their graduates will obtain jobs as lawyers, by trumpeting employment figures of 95 percent, 97 percent, and even 99.8 percent. The truth is that less than half will.
Latinos today are the fastest growing group in the nation. From 1970 to 2008 the Latino population grew by 417% compared to 49.6% for the general population. With a median age of 27.4 years Latinos are also the youngest in our population. 15 states account for 86.5% of the total Latino population. In 2010, over one-third of the total Latino population was under the age of 18. There are 22.4 million Latinos in the labor force (including employed and unemployed workers). By 2050, Latinos will constitute nearly 30% of the total US population and one third of all working-age Americans. As people age, Latinos are providing an important source of renewal for communities in decline.
Elena Gray at the The Observer provides a realistic look of Latinos on campus. Unless they’re attending a college with significant Latino population, most Latinos feel like they’re alone on an island. The experience here can be applied to most organizations as well.
“Though Notre Dame is one of the most national schools, I feel that the majority of the students on campus still wind up thinking exactly the same. I am not just talking about diversity in the sense of race and ethnicity either, but also diversity in thought and beliefs,” she said. “As a Latina, I at times feel stifled in my classes and can’t help but think there is no way that my voice or what I have to say will change what they think. The problem is, no one else sees it. It is a shared struggle with not only my community, but also other minority communities.”
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