A diverse immigrant workforce powers Maryland’s economy, driving growth in key industries like healthcare, construction, and retail. However, many struggle to express themselves fully or understand critical instructions because they lack English. This language barrier slows communication, blocking opportunities and limiting potential.
Investing in professional language services is an effective strategy to solve these communication challenges. By breaking down these barriers, Maryland can unlock untapped potential, boost business productivity, and ensure every worker has a fair shot at success—the numbers from official sources tell a powerful story.
By The Numbers: Maryland’s Immigrants’ Economic Contributions
Immigrants account for over 21% of Maryland’s workforce, significantly outpacing the national average of 17%. This group plays a critical role in a labor market with three job openings for every job seeker, filling gaps that would otherwise remain vacant.
Maryland multilingual workers play a crucial role in industries like healthcare, construction, and retail, filling gaps where local labor is insufficient. Healthcare employs 119,261 immigrant workers, representing nearly a quarter of all employees in the sector. Similarly, immigrants comprise 30% of the construction workforce and play key roles in food, retail, and professional services. These workers meet demand in sectors where local labor supply often falls short.
Immigrant entrepreneurship adds another layer of economic impact. Maryland has 66,350 immigrant business owners, generating nearly $2 billion in business revenue annually. These businesses provide jobs, drive consumer spending, and contribute substantially to state and local tax revenues.
Challenges Immigrant Workers Face in Maryland
While immigrant business owners contribute billions to Maryland’s economy, many immigrant workers face significant obstacles that limit their full potential. These challenges—rooted in language barriers, credentialing issues, and unsafe working conditions—create roadblocks not just for individuals but for the state’s economic growth. Addressing these issues, particularly language inequality, is essential to unlocking the full value of Maryland’s immigrant workforce.
Language barriers
Limited English proficiency (LEP) prevents many immigrants from accessing opportunities for advancement or effectively communicating in the workplace. This gap reduces efficiency, limits training participation, and compromises safety in construction and healthcare industries where clear communication is critical.
Credentialing issues
Many immigrants arrive with advanced degrees or specialized skills but cannot use them due to mismatched certification systems. For example, foreign-trained healthcare workers often cannot meet U.S. licensing requirements, even with equivalent qualifications. These accreditation requirements leave skilled professionals underemployed and unable to contribute fully to the economy, a phenomenon known as “brain waste.”
Hazardous working conditions
Immigrant workers are overrepresented in dangerous industries. In construction, for example, these workers frequently face higher risks of injury or death due to insufficient training and limited access to safety materials in their native languages. Most recently, the Baltimore bridge collapse, which killed six immigrant construction workers, highlights the risks these workers face in essential but high-risk jobs.
These challenges are solvable problems. Limited access to safety materials and training in native languages often turns risky jobs into life-threatening ones. Addressing these gaps isn’t optional; it’s essential. Improved language access can make workplaces safer, more inclusive, and better equipped to help immigrant workers reach their potential.
Limited access to safety materials and training in native languages often makes risky jobs life-threatening. Improving language access can make workplaces safer and better equipped to support immigrant workers.
Improved Language Access: The Key to Unlocking Immigrant Potential in Maryland
Language access gives Maryland’s immigrants the tools to communicate clearly where it matters most—in workplaces, hospitals, and public services. With translation, interpretation, and multilingual materials, immigrants can navigate complex systems and thrive in high-risk industries.
Translation converts written documents into another language, while interpretation facilitates real-time spoken communication. Multilingual resources, such as signs, training manuals, and safety guidelines, create inclusive environments where workers and employers can interact seamlessly. These tools are essential for industries like healthcare, where miscommunication can lead to serious consequences, or construction, where safety relies on clear instructions.
Language access connects immigrants with employers, coworkers, and essential services so immigrant workers don’t feel isolated and can participate in training or fully understand workplace policies.
Benefits of language access in Maryland
- Clear communication improves job performance and safety in industries like healthcare and construction, where translated protocols and training reduce workplace accidents.
- Language support increases opportunities for career advancement when it helps immigrants meet certification requirements, attend training, and qualify for higher-paying jobs, especially in healthcare and STEM.
- Language access makes increased civic participation possible, enabling immigrants to engage with communities, access public services, and pursue naturalization, which boosts wages by 8-11%.
Economic advantages of language inclusion
- Bilingual employees bridge cultural gaps in service-oriented sectors like retail and healthcare, enhancing client experiences. Employers also gain access to a larger talent pool by hiring and supporting LEP workers.
- Miscommunication often leads to accidents, inefficiency, or poor customer interactions. By investing in translation and interpretation, businesses report higher productivity and fewer disruptions. Language inclusion has been shown to improve employee retention, particularly in high-turnover industries like food services and construction.
The benefits of language access are clear—safer workplaces, better career opportunities, and stronger community engagement. Yet communication gaps persist, often with devastating consequences.
Bridging the Language Gap in Maryland’s Multilingual Workforce
Language inclusion is essential for Maryland’s economy, where a multilingual workforce is critical in industries like healthcare, construction, and retail. Yet miscommunication continues to pose serious risks.
Incidents like the Baltimore Bridge collapse—where unclear communication contributed to tragic outcomes—underscore the urgency of addressing these gaps. In healthcare, miscommunication can jeopardize patient safety, while construction increases the likelihood of workplace accidents.
Closing these gaps requires a collaborative effort from employers, communities, and language service providers.
Solutions for employers
Employers can lead the way by implementing multilingual training programs, providing translated materials, and offering access to interpreter services.
These tools ensure workers understand safety protocols, daily instructions, and emergency procedures. Multilingual signage, safety manuals, and ongoing language education improve workplace safety and help integrate employees into teams, boosting overall efficiency.
By investing in these solutions, businesses reduce turnover, improve retention, and tap into the full potential of a diverse workforce.
Government and community support
State and local governments play a pivotal role in fostering language inclusion. Funding English as a Second Language (ESL) programs empowers immigrant workers to gain skills, pursue certifications, and advance their careers. Programs like those offered by CASA in Montgomery County provide vital resources, including language training and legal assistance, ensuring immigrants can navigate workplace challenges and thrive in their industries.
Community organizations amplify these efforts by offering tailored support to immigrant workers, helping them bridge the gap between opportunity and access.
The role of language service providers
Professional language service providers are critical in eliminating communication barriers and ensuring workplaces and communities are inclusive.
Key contributions include:
- Translation and Interpretation Services: Certified providers like The Language Doctors offer solutions that prevent costly communication errors. For example, TLD has reduced medical interpreting delays to under 30 seconds in healthcare, improving patient outcomes and staff efficiency.
- Compliance and Expertise: Certified translators help businesses meet legal and safety requirements, offering reliability and precision that informal methods can’t match.
- Community Empowerment: Language service providers partner with nonprofits and public agencies to facilitate access to education, legal services, and healthcare, helping immigrant workers navigate certification processes and pursue professional opportunities.
By prioritizing language inclusion, Maryland can foster safer workplaces, stronger communities, and a more resilient economy. Collaboration among employers, governments, and professional language service providers will ensure an effective immigrant workforce that strengthens Maryland’s economy and serves its communities.
Make Maryland a leader in language access. Empower your immigrant workforce and drive economic growth by bridging language gaps with The Language Doctors.