New Releases
07 OCTOBER 2009
The Latino Imperative Is the Answer to Future U.S.
by Fernando Torres-Gil and Max Benavidez
The future economic prosperity of the United States will depend on how well we educate the emerging Latino majority. However, as things look at the moment, our prosperity has a huge question mark over it. That's because the current public image of Latinos is one of an impoverished underclass with skyrocketing high school dropout rates, income levels below the poverty line, poor health, and wealth levels lower than any other group in the country.
There is some truth to this litany of woe. But it is also true that if we don't do something to change the current economic outlook for Latinos our country may well be in for some even tougher economic times than what we are now experiencing.
"We call this the Latino Imperative because it's essential to our continued status as a First World economy. "
–Fernando Torres-GilUCLA Center for Policy Research on Aging
Consider recent data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), which is sponsored by the National Institute on Aging. The data look at the Baby Boomer generation, and offer some direction that may help us map out a different scenario for Latinos and, in turn, for the nation. While America is witnessing a historic growth of aging Baby Boomers, no one has paid attention to how this growth overlaps with the burgeoning Latino population. Last year, our project (Latinos & Economic Security) was the first to announce that 10% of the 80 million Boomers are Latino.
Aside from giving us a fuller portrait of who the Baby Boomers are, the HRS data also reveal two other factors that must be taken into account. First, most Latinos are post-Boomers, and the Latino population will double to nearly 30 percent of the national population by 2050. In other words, Latinos will comprise a larger portion of the taxpaying workforce that supports Social Security and other public programs. Second, being Latino is not the determinant factor in terms of predicting economic success, education is. This is a very significant finding and it means that there is a way for the Latinos to avoid becoming a permanent underclass and a drag on our economy.
As we know, there are high ratio effects between the people who are working-more and more young Latinos every year-and the people who are retiring-predominantly aging white Baby Boomers. As this ratio grows, the retirement of the white Baby Boomers is going to be funded more and more by the working and taxpaying younger Latinos. The ratio works well as long as a larger number of the people working are earning middle-class income levels.
That's why education is the key to ensuring the future economic prosperity of our nation. We call this the Latino Imperative because it's essential to our continued status as a First World economy. Otherwise, Latinos could become an underclass for generations and our whole worker-funded retirement system will go bankrupt.
We can't let that happen. Given America's vast global responsibilities, the unrelenting requisites of national security, the strong presence of Latinos in our military and the proliferating growth of the new high-tech economy, we have no choice but to ensure that Latinos are educated.
We also know that Latinos are resilient. Despite adversity, discrimination and other obstacles, the Latino population continues to grow and make its mark. If we commit to improving the education of young Latinos, we will, in fact, be making an enormous commitment to improving the future for all Americans. Simply put, Latino resiliency plus education equals U.S. prosperity for the 21st century.
We are aware of the enormous challenges facing our nation at this time but there is one goal that cannot be compromised: educating young Latinos. The tragedy is that at this very moment due to the severe economic recession, public education is being cut to the bare bone at the state and local levels and this may well jeopardize the resiliency of the young Latino community that must shoulder its increasing responsibilities as taxpayers.
We urge policymakers to see beyond the present and not make sacrifices in the short-term that will irreparably harm us in the long term. They must be responsive to the Latino Imperative and strengthen public education. Our very existence as an advanced nation depends on it.
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Dr. Fernando Torres-Gil is Associate Dean at the UCLA School of Public Affairs, the Director of the Center for Policy Research on Aging and heads the Latinos & Economic Security Project (LES), which is funded by the Ford Foundation. Before joining UCLA, he served as the country's first Assistant Secretary for Aging in the Clinton Administration. Max Benavidez is the President of Public Communications Strategies, a scholar in Latino studies and the chief consultant for the LES Project.