Business leaders across the nation are trying to improve the diversity of their workforce. They’re looking to recruit diverse workers and to create workplace cultures that are welcoming to all. Whether it’s age, gender, socioeconomics, ideology, ethnicity or race, having a diverse workplace can contribute to the bottom line. Employees are more creative and more productive when they work alongside people with varied language, talent, education, experiences, attitude and personality.
Closer to home, many NH businesses are embracing diverse workplaces. The NH Employment Security’s Economic and Labor Market Information Bureau reports “in the first quarter of 2013, at least 7 percent of job holders in four industries were non-white, well above the 4.9 percent average for all industries.” These industries are: accommodation and food services; administrative and waste management services; professional and technical services; and manufacturing.
Yet in NH, we often struggle to diversify our workplaces, particularly when it comes to racial diversity. The state is characterized as having very little racial diversity, given the current demographic indicating a 90 percent white population. We are further challenged by an aging population and near full employment. Valuable workers are beginning to retire. But is this notion of workforce scarcity accurate? Perhaps it’s as accurate as the idea that NH is “all” white. Neither is true.
Historian Valerie Cunningham notes in the documentary film “Shadows Fall North” that “New Hampshire has never been lily-white—and it is not now.” In precolonial times, the native population thrived. During colonial times, white, African and native people lived in NH. They worked together to build NH towns, both side by side as land and business owners, and with black and native people as employed or enslaved servants and farm hands of white NH residents. Portsmouth’s maritime economy brought an increasingly diverse population to NH.
Today, research from demographer Kenneth Johnson of the University of NH Carsey School of Public Policy shows that NH is becoming more racially diverse and “children are in the vanguard of this growing diversity.” Twelve percent of NH children are Hispanic, black, Asian or another race or ethnicity, as compared to 6 percent of adults. This diversity is concentrated in the state’s urban corridor of Concord, Manchester and Nashua, as well as the Seacoast and Hanover/Lebanon regions. Consistent with NH’s history, people of many origins and races live and work side by side.
They are entrepreneurs, doctors, lawyers, nurses, educators, college professors and administrators working in all sectors of the economy. Many are born in NH and are descendents of pre-revolutionary war residents of our state. Others are newer to NH, having grown up elsewhere in the country, or arrived as new American immigrants.
A variety of initiatives focus on preparing a strong workforce. These efforts, while helping all people of NH, also support the increasing diversity among our young citizens. The NH Coalition for Business and Education is focused on improving the quality, access and relevance of education. The Workforce Accelerator 2025 Initiative is exposing young people to job and career opportunities through the School to Career Pathways Program. And Stay Work Play NH is creating a culture to attract and retain younger workers.
It’s time for NH businesses to abandon the “lily-white” image of the state and tap into the diverse population of workers who want to live, learn, work and play here. Look to a growing talent pool of leaders who are working to develop necessary skills to support the needs of businesses and nonprofits.
The Emerging Leaders in Communities of Color program has trained 75 people in leadership skills such as negotiation, grant writing and public speaking. The Equity Leadership Fellows Program has trained almost 30 graduates to serve on boards, commissions and committees at the local and state level. The Nursing Diversity Pipeline program has prepared new nurses for the workforce.
These graduates are ready and eager to find their next opportunity right here in NH.
Yvonne Goldsberry is president of the Endowment for Health, a statewide nonprofit foundation based in Concord dedicated to improving the health of NH’s people, especially those who are vulnerable and underserved. For more information, visit endowmentforhealth.org.
Current Issue - May 2024