The changing face of America.

• Position: Q & A - James H. Johnson Jr. - Interview

James H. Johnson Jr. is a business professor at the University of North Carolina who says demographic changes are going to transform America's economy and the work force. This is a condensed version of his interview with State Legislatures.

State Legislatures: Can you summarize the key demographic changes going on in this country?

James Johnson: I see two key demographic changes that are going to challenge us at the state and the local levels. One is what I call the browning of America, which refers to the growing role that immigrants and people of color are going to play. And the second piece is what I call the graying of America, which refers in particular to the aging of the non-Hispanic white segment of our population.

This huge wave of baby boomers, people who were born between 1946 and 1964, are aging out of the work force, which will create a labor shortage of 10 million to 20 million people. The pool of people behind them, the baby bust generation, is much smaller. There are only 67 million Gen X and Gen Y folk, and they have a different cultural orientation from the boomer generation. The competition for talent is going to be fierce. For state government, it raises a whole series of issues of who is going to become the next generation of leaders.

The pool of people behind the baby boom generation is far more diverse racially, ethnically, religiously and culturally. How do we re-engineer work environments, the education system and all of that to be encompassing of those folk?

SL: What do you think are the public policy challenges for state policymakers?

Johnson: I think we have to address head-on some of the myths and misunderstandings about immigration and illegal immigration. There is a prevailing view that illegal immigrants are a burden on our society, but there is very little empirical evidence to support that.

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We were asked to assess the economic impact of Hispanics in North Carolina. We looked at what they cost the state in terms of K-12 education, corrections and health care. We also looked at the spending power of this group. For Hispanics, it was $8.3 billion in 2004. The economic impact was $9.3 billion. They were responsible for the spin-off of 89,000 jobs in our economy. We found that for K-12 education, health care and corrections, the cost was $817 million--$102 per person. But you must balance that against the contribution of $9.3 billion. In other words, what we found in North Carolina is that...