The Quote Below—More Misinformation from the Media
“As population growth slows, the pressure for cuts will likely grow. Meanwhile, the existing population will continue to age; by 2030, the Census Bureau estimates that one in five US residents will be of retirement age.
“Slow population growth, at least in the United States and a lot of other developed countries, will become a dire age dependency problem,” William Frey, a senior fellow at the Brooking Institution’s metropolitan policy program, said. “It puts a big strain on the rest of the population.”
“There are ways that policymakers can turn the situation around — the Biden administration has advocated for family-friendly policies that could make it easier for Americans to have more children. But that will not be enough to overcome a widening gap in the number of working-age adults that are able to support an aging population of baby boomers.
“That leaves immigration, which has historically insulated the US from population decline and represents a kind of tap that the US can turn on and off. Over the next decade, it is set to become the primary driver of population growth for the first time in US history. The question now is exactly how much more immigration might be needed to accelerate population growth — and whether US policymakers can actually overcome their political differences on the issue to make it an effective tool. . . .
Immigration is a . . . reliable driver of population growth. The average age of newly arriving immigrants is 31, which is more than seven years younger than the median American, meaning that they could help replace an aging workforce. They are also more entrepreneurial, which encourages economic dynamism.– The Census Shows the U.S. Needs to Increase Immigration—by a Lot, Nicole Narea, Vox, 5/6/21 [Link]
Fact Check of Above Quote: This article seems to assume that a high rate of population growth will ensure economic prosperity. But there is no proof of this assumption. High growth rates in impoverished African countries aren’t enriching those countries.
And immigration under current U.S. policies will not do much to increase the ratio of working age Americans to retirees. One reason is that the age of immigrants is trending upward, while their birthrates are declining.
Immigrants are not super entrepreneurs, contrary to the claim of this article. Their ownership of businesses is about the same as that of native-born Americans.
We probably won’t need as many future workers as immigration enthusiasts claim because many jobs now being done by humans will be automated in the near future. Also, we can take steps to shore up Social Security and Medicare without increasing the workforce, such as increasing the ages of eligibility.
If we feel the need to increase our birth rate, one way to do so is cutting immigration. Excessive immigration is weakening the already frayed bonds of American society, while increasing the gap between rich and poor. The increasingly dysfunctional state of California, with the country’s largest number and percentage of immigrants, points to a Third World America.
Seeing these trends, many Americans are losing faith in the future of their country. Thus it is not surprising many are deciding not to have children. Contrast this situation with the 1950s, when low rates of immigration promoted assimilation and good jobs and wages for American workers. In that era we had a high birth rate.
If we want to hope for a better future again, we must learn the lessons from our past. Chief among them is placing proper limits on immigration.