This blog is intended to go along with Population: An Introduction to Concepts and Issues, by John R. Weeks, published by Cengage Learning. The latest edition is the 13th (it will be out in January 2020), but this blog is meant to complement any edition of the book by showing the way in which demographic issues are regularly in the news.

You can download an iPhone app for the 13th edition from the App Store (search for Weeks Population).

If you are a user of my textbook and would like to suggest a blog post idea, please email me at: john.weeks@sdsu.edu

Friday, February 8, 2013

Children of Immigrants Are Doing OK in the US

Here's good news from the Pew Hispanic Research Center for everyone who is worried about the fact that the Baby Boom generation is not replacing itself demographically--the children of immigrants are doing quite well, thank you very much. The story is from the New York Times:
Americans who were born to immigrant parents, many of them the adult children of an enormous wave of immigrants who began arriving in the 1960s, are doing better than the foreign born on important measures of socioeconomic success, and in at least one area — education — have outperformed the population as a whole.
Given current immigration trends and birthrates, virtually all of the growth in the nation’s working-age population between now and 2050 will be accounted for by immigrants and their children.
The Pew report also offers some insight on the social integration of immigrant families. For example, overwhelmingly, adult children of immigrants Americans speak English, Pew found.
Hispanics and Asian-Americans, who make up about half of that group, place more importance on hard work and career success than the general public, according to the report. And they are also likely to consider themselves a “typical American.”
This is, in fact, the story of America. If there is such a thing as American "exceptionalism" this is it. Immigrants themselves may come in with fewer qualifications than the average native American, but their children build and rebuild the country.

1 comment:

  1. Fascinating post here from the BBC on the future. It lacks some demographic insights imho, but still interesting.

    http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130102-tomorrows-world

    ReplyDelete