With the exception of the U.S., all other major global economies
face a daunting demographic future. By 2050, the working-age populations of
China, Russia, Germany, and Japan are predicted to decline by 20 percent, 20
percent, 17 percent, and 29 percent, respectively. In contrast, the working-age
population of the U.S. is predicted to increase by 12 percent. The only other
large advanced countries that will increase its working-age populations are
Australia, Canada, and the U.K. The predicted increase in our working-age
population is primarily due to the U.S. still being a magnet for immigrants.
A growing working population gives the U.S. an enormous
comparative advantage over the other major global economies. A growing
population of younger people is essential to a vibrant economy. Most Nobel
Prize winners and company founders established their claims when they were
young. Overall, statistical data show that immigrants and their children are
more beneficial to our economy and society than our native-born. Astonishingly,
219 of the Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants and their children!
Furthermore, immigrants and their U.S.-born children are significantly less
likely to be incarcerated than native-born Americans, and this is especially
true for illegal immigrants for whom any arrest could lead to deportation.
Trump’s recent comment that the U.S. is too “full” to
accommodate more immigrants is ridiculous and beneath contempt. Only about 3
percent of U.S. land is urbanized and even then are three to four times less
densely populated than those of the E.U. or China. Because of increasing urbanization
and the declining birthrate of the native-born population, from 2007 to 2017
the working-age population declined in 80 percent of U.S. counties, with a
combined population of 140 million, resulting in underpopulated cities and
towns, vacant housing, widespread poverty, and troubled public financing.