In nearly every state that has experienced a consistent increase in their Hispanic population, demand for bilingual employees in education and health care has increased in step, because the increase in Hispanics has created a new demand for services that were previously scarce or did not exist. Bilingual employees in the areas of teaching and health care have become so sought after in states like South Carolina, which experienced the largest percentage increase in Hispanic residents in the nation, that the state has had to look overseas to recruit bilingual teachers.

Since 1998, Greenville County School District, which is located in South Carolina’s most populous county, the amount of Hispanic students in need of bilingual teachers has increased tenfold. The number of teachers designated to teach English for Speakers of Other Languages has also increased by 1000 percent over the same time period.

The demand for bilingual employees in health care mirrors that of education. In critical areas such as hospital registration, patient screening, and diagnosis, the demand for bilingual employees continues to increase exponentially, as medical providers try to find the best way they can serve the health care needs of the growing Hispanic population.