Bilingual employees are 'increasingly lucrative'

With the rising number of Spanish speaking people in the United States,. Spanish speaking employees are becoming even more valuable to employers.

Assistant Professor of Spanish David Hitchcock said a bilingual employee can help bridge the gap for clients that do not speak or speak very little English. He said the need for Spanish speaking employees differs in different fields and areas of the country.

Positions such as court reporters and international reporters are generally in high demand for bilingual employees. Hitchcock said the recent "wave" of immigrants from Spanish speaking countries makes the need for bilingual employees even greater. He said these immigrants continue to speak Spanish at home, and the work-place make it necessary for employers to hire someone that can communicate with Spanish speakers in an effective way.

This means someone that has more than a basic knowledge of some words in the language. He said a non-Latino will have a greater interest in talking with these people and creates a more beneficial situation for the company and themselves.

Abilingual employee can help a business's profitability by bringing services to a broader range of people, essentially making the business and its products and services more "mobile." A bilingual person can become an invaluable asset to a company. Hitchcock said bilingual employees tend to be more worldly and interesting people and have the ability to do more things.

The salaries of a bilingual person may be more than that of a non-bilingual person. Hitchcock said with the spread of more Spanish speaking people to more areas of the United States, he believes that being bilingual will be "increasingly lucrative" in the next 10 years.

According to the 2000 census, Indiana's population is made up of 214,536 Hispanic or Latino people, which equates to 3.5 percent of the states population. More information on the Hispanic and Latino population can be found at www.census.gov.