A new analysis from The Mendoza Law Firm of language and labor market data shows that demand for bilingual workers has surged over the past decade, even as millions of Americans with limited English proficiency, or LEP, continue to face measurable barriers to employment, healthcare, and education.
Job postings seeking bilingual employees more than doubled between 2010 and 2015, rising from nearly 240,000 to more than 630,000, and that demand has continued climbing since. Bilingual job postings rose 24% in 2023 compared with the prior year, bilingual healthcare postings rose 35%, and 40% of Fortune 500 companies reported actively seeking bilingual staff to support global operations. Nearly one in four employers said they had lost or been unable to pursue a business opportunity specifically because they lacked staff with the right foreign language skills. California, Texas, Florida, New York, and New Jersey, the states with the largest non-English speaking populations, also report the highest levels of bilingual worker demand, reflecting both a major customer base and a critical part of the local labor force.
That demand translates directly into pay. Bilingual employees typically earn between 5% and 20% more than monolingual workers in comparable roles, with Spanish English bilingual customer service employees earning around 10% more on average, and bilingual nurses earning roughly $10,000 more a year than their monolingual peers, underscoring the growing economic value employers place on language skills.
Yet the same data reveals a starkly different reality for the 28.9 million Americans classified as having limited English proficiency. According to a 2024 KFF analysis, LEP immigrant workers were nearly as likely to be employed as English proficient immigrants, 64% compared with 67%, but they were far more likely to work hourly jobs, 60% compared with 45%, and far less likely to hold a salaried position, just 21% compared with 42%. More than half of LEP immigrant workers, 55%, lived in a household earning less than $40,000 a year, compared with 28% of English proficient immigrants, and half reported experiencing workplace discrimination, including fewer opportunities for promotion.
Healthcare access follows a similar pattern. Research shows LEP patients experience more hospital admissions and more medication related errors, largely due to reduced access to adequate care, and one national study found that 40% of ambulatory physicians had never used a professional interpreter with an LEP patient. Among Hispanic immigrants with limited English proficiency, 36% reported difficulty accessing healthcare, 33% struggled to find or keep a job, and 23% of parents said they had trouble communicating effectively with their children’s schools. A 2024 KFF and Los Angeles Times survey of immigrants found that one in four felt they had been treated unfairly by a healthcare provider because of their accent or English proficiency, a figure that rose to four in ten among Black immigrants.
Education shows comparable gaps. Roughly 10% of U.S. K through 12 students are classified as English Language Learners, and during the 2010 to 2011 school year, just 57% of English Language Learners graduated high school, compared with 79% of their peers. LEP parents also frequently struggle to understand school communications, attend and follow parent-teacher conferences, and navigate enrollment processes, compounding the disadvantage. More broadly, more than 27 million people with limited English proficiency struggle to access government benefits, healthcare, and legal assistance nationwide, and in New York alone, approximately 58% of immigrants and 30% of all residents are affected by limited English proficiency.
Providing adequate language access carries a real cost for public institutions, sometimes called a translation tax. The federal government spends approximately $800 million a year on outsourced language services alone, not including the additional spending required of states, local governments, schools, hospitals, and courts under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. Yet inadequate language access carries its own cost, contributing to insufficient preventive care, misdiagnoses, unnecessary testing, and higher emergency room use. Three hospital systems each saved between $1.3 million and $1.7 million a year after improving their language service contracts, evidence that investing in language access can ultimately reduce downstream costs.
“Every one of these statistics represents a person trying to build a life and provide for their family,” said a spokesperson for The Mendoza Law Firm. “When someone can’t fully access a job, a doctor, or their child’s school because of a language barrier, that’s exactly the kind of gap our firm exists to help close.”
