Companies that fully utilize their employee affinity groups will emerge with a competitive advantage after the current economic downturn. Also known as resource groups or ERGs, such entities have become valuable assets in the face of rapidly shrinking but also increasingly multicultural markets.

Managers in charge of remote Latin American teams often report having difficulty getting their employees to meet deadlines, but this failure to complete projects on time may have little to do with the tired stereotype about Latinos always being late. Here are some ways to discover and handle the factors that could be causing continual delays with remote multicultural teams.

A ruling from a U.S. district court judge in New Jersey has blocked an attempt by H-1B visa opponents to stop an extension of student visas from one year to 29 months. The measure, which was put in place earlier this year, was a move that the Bush administration claimed would give students a better chance to get an H-1B visa. The 85,000-visa cap, which includes 20,000 visas for foreign workers with advanced degrees, is being reached before the close of the academic year, making it difficult for new graduates to get a new visa before their old visa expires.

The Programmers Guild, the Immigration Reform Law Institute and other groups sought an injunction to stop the visa extension, arguing that such a measurer is, in effect, a backdoor visa increase that will hurt U.S. workers.

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As foreign-born workers make up a larger share of the U.S. workforce, more employers will be dealing with language limitations. But a new survey by The Conference Board finds that a majority of employers are doing very little to overcome this challenge.

"The future for many U.S. based companies appears flush with potential employees lacking English language skills," says Chris Woock, author of the report. "Whether and how companies choose to accommodate these workers could have significant impacts on the sustainability of success. Latest evidence suggests companies could do well to recruit and hire the best available talent, irrespective of their language limitations, and invest in language training."

In a Michigan age discrimination case, a general manager received gradual pay reductions over a period of seven years while the plant’s much younger assistant general manager received pay increases over the same period until his salary nearly doubled the older general manager’s final salary.

When the older general manager filed a complaint with the EEOC, he was fired in retaliation by the owner of the company. The former employee sued for age bias and retaliation, and although both his claims were initially rejected, appellate courts reinstated the retaliation claim, citing that because the general manager was fired immediately following his complaint to the EEOC, there was at least a causal connection between his firing and his complaint to the EEOC.

On May 1, 2008, the US House of Representatives approved the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act by an over whelming 414-1 margin, just eight days after the Senate also voted unanimously in favor of the bill. When the bill becomes law, which may occur before the end of May 2008, employers and health insurance companies will be expressly prohibited from discriminating against or refusing coverage to individuals based on results of genetic testing.

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.

Although the economy continued its trend of job loss in April 2008, the actual number of jobs lost was far less than economists had predicted. The economy showed some signs of revival in April, as only 20,000 jobs were lost, much less than the 73,000 jobs that economists had forecast would disappear.

The unemployment rate also surprised economists, as it dropped 0.1 percent to 5.2 percent, easing fears that the uncertain labor markets would push the rate up to 5.2 percent. Average hourly earnings rose a paltry 1 cent, and strong employment gains in the health and education services sector offset predicted losses in industries like manufacturing and construction, both hit hard by the sluggish real estate market.

The Labor Department has reported that the U.S. economy lost 17,000 jobs in January 2008, the largest loss of jobs in 4-1/2 years. This news has prompted renewed fears that the economy may be slipping into a recession.

The January employment report has cast a shadow over the job market, previously a relatively bright spot in an economy darkened by the housing slump, subprime mortgage mess and resulting credit problems.

The weaker-than-expected report came as a surprise, as market experts were expecting a 55,000 increase. However, staffing executives feel that the overall employment landscape isn't necessarily in trouble. The unemployment rate actually fell from 5.0% in December to 4.9% in January, and the largest January job losses occurred in construction (27,000 jobs) and manufacturing (28,000 jobs).