Immigrants and Baby Boomers Futures’ Converge
From HispanicBusiness.com (hat tip: Connie Majure-Rhett of the Wilmington NC Chamber)
The quality of life for some 80 million graying baby boomers in the U.S. may depend in large part on the fortunes of another high-profile demographic group: millions of mostly Hispanic immigrants and their children.
With a major part of the nation’s population entering its retirement years and birth rates falling domestically, the shortfall in the work force will be filled by immigrants and their offspring, experts say. How that group fares economically in the years ahead could have a big impact on everything from the kind of medical services baby boomers receive to the prices they can get for their homes.
Full story here.
Who knew that the new immigration bill was going to impact the healthcare your parents are going to get??
posted by Kevin Stolarick
May 31st, 2007 at 5:02 pm
Absolutely they’re going to be a major part of the future workforce, and the future of the USA, but not in just paying for Medicare. I think many people assume that Hispanics will become the new laboring and service classes. I think this is a mistaken assumption, like previous immigrants they’ll add to the creative mix of the country in many fields and a lot of the next generation will be upwardly mobile.
One of my son-in-laws is the son of an immigrant Basque sheepherder in Idaho. He went to U of Idaho, got a job with HP and HP sent him to Stanford for a Master’s. He’s now designing printers for them. Another son-in-law is Indian heritage, he’s a PhD currently running public affairs for a radio chain but looking at getting back into teaching college — American Studies of course.
I don’t think my family is that unusual. Immigrants provide much of the new blood that keeps the country vital.