Diversity at Work

If you like telling stories, spinning yarns, crafting narratives, then you should love demographics -- they are the best story of our lives. Demographics, you see, aren't just about numbers. They're about covering how this country changes from white to brown over the next quarter-century. That's something no other country has ever done.

Demographics are about power. They're about people. When you look at a white baby, you are looking at the new minority in this country. When you look at black, Latino, Asian or Native American toddlers -- you're looking at the baby face of the country's new majority.

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Florida, California and Texas -- any of these states could be a ground zero for this emerging and historic story. The change is apparent when you look at children younger than 5 years old in these states:

• California's non-Hispanic white population is 43 percent. Less than one-third of those younger than 5 years old are non-Hispanic white.
  
• Florida's non-Hispanic white population is 62 percent. Less than one-half of those younger than 5 years old are non-Hispanic white.
• Texas' non-Hispanic white population is 49 percent. Just a little more than one-third of those younger than 5 years old are non-Hispanic white.
  
• The nation as a whole has a non-Hispanic white population of 67 percent. Just more than one-half of those younger than 5 years old are non-Hispanic whites.

The Census Bureau had forecasted that the U.S. would be nearly majority minority by 2050. The numbers now clearly indicate it will actually happen a lot sooner -- even if immigration begins to wane. (Click here for 2005 numbers showing how quickly the country is changing. Open the first Excel table and look at the second column of numbers under the "Race alone or in combination" category.)

We will need to tell our readers of the opportunities -- and the challenges -- of this unprecedented population change.

The opportunities include a young, growing workforce. More minority businesses. A diversity of restaurants. More innovative ideas.

The challenges include a workforce changing from college-educated whites to less-educated Hispanics and blacks. That emerging workforce is important. How much that workforce earns determines what we'll pay in taxes. It determines what kinds of services we'll get. It affects what Social Security benefits will exist. It may determine whether such trendy businesses as Starbucks locate nearby.

Florida schools already have a majority of minority students. They offer a glimpse into the looming problem in the disparity between high-school graduates and college graduates among Florida residents 25 and older. Among non-Hispanic whites, more than 90 percent are high-school graduates and nearly 30 percent have college degrees. More than 70 percent of Hispanics finished high school, but only 22 percent completed college. Blacks did better in high school -- more than 76 percent graduated -- but they did worst of all in college, with 14 percent graduating.

Whites now give Florida a well-educated workforce. They have white-collar jobs, earning incomes that make for a good property and sales-tax base. (Florida has no income tax.) Many have health insurance.

But if young blacks and Hispanics follow the pattern of their parents, they will have less education as they replace whites. That means a white-collar workforce replaced by a blue-collar workforce. That means lower incomes, a lower tax base and fewer people with health insurance. Now who pays for all of that?

California and Texas face a similar future -- unless they quickly find a way to better educate their black and Hispanic students.

The problem is particularly acute in California. Most recently, 54 percent of older Hispanics (ages 25 and older) have finished high school in California. But only 10 percent of them have a college degree. That compares with the nearly 40 percent of older, non-Hispanic whites. Two-thirds of California's future workers (those younger than 5 years old) are Hispanic. Are high-tech companies going to stay around with such a dramatic, looming change in the workforce?

We will need to tell our readers the incredible implications all this has for them. We need to inform them about the impact such a population change will have on their pocketbooks, their community and their children.

That's what newspapers do. We explain to people how the world around them is changing and why.

This is the best story of our lives.