Alonzo Branch
Argosy University
B6027: Perspective in Change Leadership
Module 1 Assignment 3
June, 14, 2013

Demographic Changes
The ethnic composition of the United States has rapidly changed as a result of the 1965 changes in immigration policy. It will continue to be rapidly changed by the continuation of that policy, and, if immigration is increased, as currently proposed, the U.S. population will be even more rapidly altered (Martin, 2006).
Estimates indicate that, by 2050, the number of people 65 or older will have grown by 135% since the start of the millennium, rising from 12.7% to 20.3% of the total population. As quality of life and health care improve in the United States, we are also living longer. Over the last thirty years, the number of people 90 years old or above has tripled, according to the US Census (Little, 2013).
According to U.S. Census Bureau projections, the United States will face dramatic demographic changes over the next one hundred years. Indeed, the country will be entering largely uncharted territory. In the twenty-first century, the population is expected to grow more slowly than ever before over an extended period. The population will also age rapidly, with the share of the population over 65 climbing to a succession of new record highs. Finally, the United States will once again become a nation of immigrants (Martin, 2006).
The Mexican immigrant and heritage segment of the population shows the greatest increase (by 345%). This increase is fueled by ongoing legal and illegal immigration, the effects of an amnesty/guest worker program, and by the larger family size of Mexican immigrants. Other Hispanic immigrants and their offspring are projected to rise over the next 45 years by 206 percent — from about 17 million to about 52 million residents. The rapid increase in this population segment also is fueled by amnesty, illegal immigration, family size and continuing legal immigration. The black population, whose size is less influenced by immigration, is projected to increase by almost 66 percent. The difference in the rate of increase between blacks and non-Hispanic whites is largely a factor of different fertility rates (Kotkin, 2010).
The Asian population is projected to also increase rapidly over the next 45 years, i.e., from 14.4 million to nearly 45 million. That would be an increase of 213 percent. Most of that increase would result from continuing large scale legal immigration from Asian countries, but some of the increase also results from illegal immigration and higher fertility rates among some nationality groups in the Asian immigrant population (Siu, 2011).
The amnesty proposal currently being urged on Congress would incorporate 11-13 million illegal aliens who generally are poorly skilled and put them on the path to becoming able to sponsor extended family members for immigration. Similarly, a new guest worker program, besides creating additional competition with American workers for low-end jobs, would tend to bring into the country persons with many of the same characteristics as today’s influx of illegal immigrants (Little, 2013).
The New American Family
Rappaport (2012) noted that the composition of households in America today as it relates to family structure is much more diverse than in previous years. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, 300.8 million Americans were living in a variety of arrangements with an average of 2.6 people per household, and 3.1 people per family. Though the number of households has increased since 2000 to 116.7 million in 2010, average household size has decreased, while average family size stayed the same (pg. 6).
Today, what may have been thought of as the “traditional family,” with a first marriage husband, wife, with their children, is a smaller percentage of households than in previous years. Married couples represented 48% of the households — 28% with children and 20% without children. This would include blended families as well as first married couples. This is the first time that fewer than half (48.4%) of all households were husband-wife households, since data collection on families began in 1940. It is down from 55% in 1990 and 52% in 2000. In contrast, each of the other household types has increased its percentage share since 1990 (Martin, 2006, p. 42).
The complete lack of growth in the number of married couples with children (often referred to as “traditional families”) over the past half century is the most striking example of the transformation from what was in the distant past described as “Mom, Pop, and two kids.” As the chart below shows, no slice of today’s household pie is even one-third of the nation’s households (2010 Census Briefs , 2011).
The chart below (Figure 1) shows that it’s the non-traditional families and other non-families that have increased most rapidly over the past decade. The best example of this is the second largest household type after married couple households: people who live alone. The 2010 Census counted 31 million single-person households, up 15% since 2000. That count was over four times the 7 million found in the 1960 census (2010 Census Briefs , 2011).
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American Households: 116.7m in 2012, up 11% since 2000 Source: Census Bureau 2010

Changing Demographics: How This Affects Your Business
The 2010 Census numbers are in and the findings are startling and profound. One in three Americans is not White. Four states have "minority majority" populations. Young people increasingly are opting not to get married. Asians have the highest household income of any race or ethnicity. Rural communities are losing population fast (McDonald, 2013).
A big demographic shift is coming in America, and retailers are preparing themselves. As the millennial generation increases and the baby-boomers’ numbers shrink. As the baby boomers–the most highly-educated segment of the American workforce–retire, they will be replaced by a younger, more diverse population, which is historically less-inclined to complete higher education. In fact, 13 percent of Hispanics have a college degree, compared with 31 percent for Caucasians, 18 percent for African-Americans and 50 percent for Asians.
This education gap is sobering, given that a majority of jobs within the next decade will require at least some postsecondary education (McDonald, 2013). Companies today, have to know diversity. It helps them stay on the leading edge and stay proactive to compete with their counterparts. Learning about differences in values among different groups is the key to maximizing relationships, marketing efforts and business opportunities. Changing demographics in America will have a huge impact on businesses in almost every industry. Businesses will have to find a way to keep up with demographic trends. Most business today is investing from within. The have identified that education will be the key and they are offering their employees tuition assistance programs (Siu, 2011).

From personal experience, I was offered tuition assistance from a prior company I worked for, but the caveat was that I had to sign a contract stating that I will stay with that company for at least two years. If I were to leave before then I would have to repay all monies I used for tuition. Such programs are good investments for the company. They get to keep good employees for a long period of time and they have educated them to be more valuable to their mission. As employers grapple with changing demographics and their own talent development needs, we encourage them to consider ways they can adopt positive, best-practice and business-friendly supports to increase the diversity and skill base of their workforce. A good place to start is by looking at the nexus of the diversity and talent development goals from within (Siu, 2011).

References
2010 Census Briefs. (2011). Retrieved from Overview of Race and hispanic Origin: 2010: http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf Kotkin, J. (2010). The Changing Demographics of America . Retrieved from Smithsonian.com: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/specialsections/40th-anniversary/The-Changing-
Demographics-of-America.html
Little, J. (2013). The impact of demographic change on the U.S. . Retrieved from FRB.org: http://www.bos.frb.org/economic/conf/conf46/conf46e1.pdf Martin, J. (2006). Projecting the U.S. Population to 2050. San Antonio: Federation for Americam Immigration Reform.
McDonald, K. (2013). Changing Demographics: How This Affects Your Business, Today and
Tomorrow. McDonald Marketing .
Rappaport, A. (2012). The New American Family. New Hampshire: Mature Market Institute.
Siu, Y. (2011). Changing Demographics Challenge Employers to Grow Their Own Talent . Retrieved from Corporate Voices: http://corporatevoices.wordpress.com/2011/05/27/changing-demographics-challenge- employers-to-grow-their-own-talent/