Underrepresentation of minorities bad for business

The country could face a shortage of skilled workers if the demographics of higher education do not change, warns a report issued by the Business-Higher Education Forum, which was formed in 1978 by the American Council on Education and the National Alliance of Business to study issues related to ethnic and racial diversity. The report says that although U.S. minority populations are growing fast, they are not proportionately represented in higher education. Its authors note that in 2000, 28 percent of whites between the ages of twenty-five and twenty-eight had completed a bachelor's degree but only about 17 percent of African Americans and 11 percent of Hispanics in that age group had done so.

And while the percentage of minorities enrolled in postsecondary degree programs is rising, only among Asians does the percentage enrollment approach that of the white population. At the same time, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, the fastestgrowing occupations require advanced technical skills, such as those students learn in college. The result? According to the report, the gap is widening between the number of jobs that need to be filled and the number of candidates in the United States who are qualified to fill them. Currently, U.S. companies often fill the gap by recruiting workers from overseas.