The 2010 Census showed that one out of every six Americans is Hispanic. From the 2000 Census to the 2010 Census, more than half of the nation’s population growth was due to Hispanics. According to an article in the Knowledge@Wharton online program of business-related articles (
America’s Growing Hispanic Population: Investing in the Future ‘Mainstay of Our Labor Force’) the “burgeoning Hispanic population creates both challenges and opportunities for the future.” Those challenges are listed as:
1. Short term: Hispanics may stimulate business, pump up a weak housing market, replenish an aging work force, and revitalize dying communities.
2. Long term: The country must find a way to educate an increasingly diverse and underprivileged generation of children or lose its competitive edge.
Steve Murdock, a former director of the U.S. Census Bureau and a sociology professor at Rice University, explains how the Hispanic population growth affects our future:
We have to change the educational futures for these kids. Not just for them, frankly, but for all of our benefit [emphasis added]. The bottom line is this: If we do not provide the resources, if we do not invest in these populations at these young ages…we could be poorer and less competitive than we are today. If we do invest, we could be at an advantage.
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