That's the argument Dowell Myers makes in the Summer issue of the Boston Federal Reserve Bank's newsletter. His point is simple but worth re-stating:
Demographics show that we'll be in deep water relatively soon. Now there are 240 old folks (those 65 and over) for every 1,000 working-age adult (25 to 64). Over the next twenty years the ratio will grow to 411 to 1,000. Who will be available to do the work? Who will be able to buy the houses we old folks will be trying to sell at the price we want?
Myers believes that is the immigrants that will provide the workforce and the money to buy the houses. He contends that you can't judge the value of immigration properly unless you take a longer view, 30 years or more. Those who immigrated to California in the 1970s have imporved their English dramatically and 64.6% of them own their own home.
1 comment:
An interesting argument to use when the "Hate the Mexicans" talk comes up . Hearing more and more of it as the economy gets worse.
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