The recent spike in border crossings and the expiration of the emergency policy Title 42 have once again sparked discussions about immigration. These talks often center on political, economic and humanitarian issues, but one topic tends to receive less attention: the linguistic effect.
The U.S. currently has the world’s fourth-largest population of native Spanish speakers, with nearly 42 million people speaking the language at home. By 2060, it will probably have the second largest, behind only Mexico. This language shift stems from a projected 3% increase in the number of foreign-born people in the United States over the next few decades, which translates to roughly 21 million more people, most of whom will be Spanish speakers. If you’ve been on the fence about learning Spanish, now is the time to start.
The proliferation of Spanish in the U.S. has been evident for some years in the workforce. The number of job postings aimed at Spanish-English bilinguals more than doubled between 2010 and 2015. The need for bilingualism has been particularly apparent in healthcare. In 2015, nearly one-fourth of the health insurer Humana’s job postings targeted bilingual employees. Forty percent of the company’s job postings for registered nurses listed bilingualism as a desired skill. Nursing is expected to experience its own boom in the coming years, with nurse practitioner projected to be the fastest-growing occupation in the U.S. between 2021 and 2031. Recent hiring trends in the field indicate that Spanish language skills will be highly desirable for these positions.
