One of the things that keeps coming up in the media is the changing tide of generations in the workforce. Baby Boomers are often talked about, whether there is a focus on their effect on the housing market or workforce. Gen X doesn’t have too much to say on the topic. Millennials are criticized for ruining just about everything from the economy to the modern workplace. But if millennials are ruining the modern workplace with their lackluster work ethic, then Baby Boomers are affecting the workplace because they haven’t quite left it yet.
When the silver tide changes and Baby Boomers are no longer one of the most widely employed generations, it’s likely we’ll see a difference in the who and what of the modern workforce. According to the Immigration Forum, the American workforce will see a 42 percent growth in the working-age population. In-kind, the changing demographics of the United States population may be cause for worry — considering the growth of the working-age population is actually declining.
There are a lot of factors that go into the modern workforce, and although declining fertility rates across the globe are one of those factors, there are other things plaguing the American workforce. The projected population growth of the United States has the American population growing over 100 million people by 2050. The demographics of this country, though, are different than others. The populations of many other countries are edging towards being more aligned with people over 65, whereas the United States is having a shift in the opposite direction.
Immigration is another factor that comes into play within the modern workforce. Although there are anti-immigration sentiments throughout conservative media, immigrants make up a significant portion of the American workforce and will likely continue to do so as our economy grows.
Something of note is that between 1990-2005, one in four venture-backed public companies was started by an immigrant. So what other industries are affected greatly with a foreign workforce? There are many industries that are supported by an immigrant workforce. For one thing, immigrants make up 5% of the United States active military. That’s a pretty startling statement and it’s eye-opening about the status of immigration employment.
What other changes have happened within the employed immigrant workforce of the United States?
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For the years between 2007-2018, immigrant employment in the United States rose by 4,208,388 individuals. The changes in which industries they’re employed in, though, aren’t as obvious as the mere growth of their presence within the population. In 2018, immigrants made up nearly 25% of the service industry. Other industries that have grown with the help of employed immigrants are the healthcare practitioner and technical healthcare industries, education and training industries, as well as within the architecture and engineering industries.
Immigration forecasting shows that more and more will be looking to move from developing nations to first-world nations such as the United States. To learn more about the future of employed immigrants, you can see the proposed policy here.