Immigration and Americanization at General Electric

The rapid growth of General Electric in the early 20th century was only possible due to the use of immigrant workers. In Schenectady, 30 percent of GE’s 23,000-person workforce consisted of foreign-born workers. In order to entice, maintain and train this pool of workers, GE launched an Americanization program in 1919 to aid workers in learning English and obtaining citizenship. Volunteer teachers taught classes in English and Civics, and GE staff helped students prepare naturalization papers. The program continued until 1931, a casualty of the Great Depression.