Immigrants and the children of immigrants will play increasingly important roles within the U.S. economy as workers and taxpayers for decades to come. 77 million baby boomers, comprising nearly one quarter of the total American population have started to retire

.

Those 77 million baby boomers are mostly White, the first cohorts are reaching the age of 65 and 66 and there are no White Youngsters to replace them.

Children of immigrants are the fastest growing demographic group within the U.S. population. When these children become adults and join the workforce, the taxes they pay—as well as the taxes their immigrant parents pay—will help to sustain Social Security and Medicare.

Immigration Policy Center

American Immigration Council

The Future of a Generation: How New Americans Will Help Support Retiring Baby Boomers

February 14, 2012


The Future of a Generation: How New Americans Will Help Support Retiring Baby Boomers


Some excerpts :

The U.S. population would be aging even more rapidly if not for the demographic impact of immigration. Because immigrants tend to be younger than native-born Americans—and to have higher rates of labor-force participation—they mitigate the impact of aging among the native-born population and workforce. In 2010, roughly 80 percent of immigrants were “working age” (18 to 64), compared to only 60 percent of the native-born population. As a report from the U.S. Census Bureau points out, “the country’s aging is slowed somewhat by immigration of younger people.” Demographer Dowell Myers estimates that current levels of immigration will temper the aging of the U.S. population substantially over the next two decades, slowing the increase in the “old-age dependency ratio”—the number of elderly per 1,000 working-age individuals—by more than one-quarter.

However, neither current levels of immigration nor current birthrates are sufficient to fully compensate for the retirement of the baby boomers. Immigration and new births notwithstanding, the elderly population is projected to grow far more quickly than the working-age population. The number of working-age adults for every elderly person in the United States declined from 13.6 in 1900 to 7.5 in 1950 to 5.0 in 2000. It will drop to only 2.8 by 2050 {Figure 3}. This represents an enormous fiscal and economic burden upon taxpayers and workers. Over the coming decades, the United States will face an escalating need for new taxpayers to help fund Social Security and Medicare, new workers to take the place of retirees, and new healthcare providers to care for the elderly.

*******************