Is Latino Unemployment in the US really on the decrease?

Posted On May 7, 2013By TranspanishIn Latinos, Translation Buyers/  No Comments

Last week, the US employment report was rolled out and, on the surface, the figures look good for the Latino community living in the US.

The report documents a 0.2% drop in Latino unemployment in the past month. The figure has dropped from 9.2% in March 2013 to 9.0% in April 2013, but the data is deceiving, according to Alicia Criado from the National Council of La Raza (NCLR).

The US Latino unemployment rate might well be the lowest it has been since November 2008, when it dropped to an impressive 8.6%, but a closer inspection of the fine details reveals a number of concerns.

Free image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

In defiance of the report, Criado rightly points out that 209,000 Latinos based in the US have actually just stopped looking for work and were, therefore, not included in the data used to generate the recent report on US employment. Criado is adamant that Latinos face lots of difficulties when it comes to finding employment in the US across a wide variety of industries and that the constant disappointment felt from unsuccessful job applications has forced 209,000 of them to simply stop trying.

The NCLR also published its own monthly Latino report last week. This report delves a little deeper into the facts and figures relating to US Latino unemployment and reveals that unemployment levels, which specifically pertain to the Latino youth demographic, those individuals aged between 16 and 24, climbed to a shocking 18% this month – double the overall Latino unemployment rate recorded in the US government’s employment report. Unsurprisingly, Criado, and the team who work at the NCLR, want to see this discrepancy in the figures highlighted as a definite cause for concern.

When further analyzing the state of affairs regarding US unemployment as a whole, many people might be concerned to hear that during April 2013, even though 169,000 more jobs were made available in the US across a wide range of industries including business services, food services and bars, retail and healthcare, problems surrounding job shortage in the US are far from over. The report published by the NCLR reveals that with each new job advertised in the US at present, there are still three US citizens hoping to be employed in the role.

One of the main issues which places US Latinos at a distinct disadvantage in this competitive environment is education. Both the US government and the NCLR believe that one of the best ways of decreasing unemployment within the US Latino community relates directly to education and training. Both parties believe that more Latinos must be encouraged to get a college education in order to be able to compete against their peers for high-paying jobs. The question remains as to whether resources will be made available to bring about these changes and reduce unemployment within the coming 12 months.

Indeed, it is Criado’s hope that the next Secretary of Labor will regard investment in job training and education as a real priority for US Latino workers. This, coupled with a heavy focus on health and safety in the workplace, is for Criado two of the most important areas in which the US government needs to invest if it is really serious about reducing Latino unemployment rates in the US and helping Latino workers reach their true potential.

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Modern innovation revitalizes endangered language

Posted On May 1, 2013By TranspanishIn Did you know?, Languages, Tips for Translators, Translation Buyers/  No Comments

Recent technology has proven useful to language acquisition in many ways.  Whether it’s practicing speaking with target language natives via Skype or reviewing vocabulary with one of the myriad smartphone language apps, the various innovations have diversified and streamlined the learning process. For some, though, such technologies have even deeper potential.

 

Screenshots of The Ma! Iwaidja app, an initiative of the Minjilang Endangered Languages Publication project.

Many Native American tribes, in response to the potential extinction of their native language/s, have begun to embrace apps, iPads, and other related tools in efforts to above all generate interest in younger generations.  Currently, there are over 200 Native American languages spoken in the U.S. and Canada, although in many cases they are only spoken by a handful of people.  There are an additional 100 Native languages that are already extinct.

The majority of tribes have historically made efforts to pass native languages down to younger generations, but the success of these efforts has waned with time.  One of the main reasons for this, of course, is the ever-rising influence of external influence, including both language and technology.  Until recently, tribes’ general response to such influence was commonly (and understandably) marked by resistance and resentment.

Many cite the Native American Languages Act of 1990 as being a crucial turning point in the language struggle, for it provided resources and funding to tribes working to revitalize their native tongues.  As a result, technology has been increasingly integrated in the process, a trend that may be seen as a sort of “reclaiming” of an early source of oppression.  Furthermore, the new learning methods have changed the very nature of the languages themselves.

The phenomenon is also representative of a larger concern—that is, how languages should adapt to or be adapted to seemingly distinct, non-linguistic innovation.  Although many take a conservative view, believing that speakers and writers should try to maintain the specific lexis and grammar of languages—and either reject or are highly selective about linguistic innovation—, the majority see language as an inherently malleable thing, always in a state of flux, including the methods used in teaching and learning.

What do you think?  Is there any limits when it comes to linguistic innovation and means of acquisition, or does more variety simply and always make a language more rich?

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