One of Kentucky’s most respected demographers says the aging population in our nation will have a huge impact on the types of jobs available in the future.
Ron Crouch is Director of Research and Statistics with the state’s Education and Workforce Development Cabinet. Speaking to the Bowling Green Noon Rotary Club Wednesday, Crouch said the aging baby boomer population means health care will continue to be a major growth industry. But he added those jobs go beyond doctors, nurses, and physical therapists.
“Even in health care, you need your janitors, your maintenance men, your computer operators. There’s a lot of jobs in the health care industry that are actually not healthcare training jobs, but that will be in healthcare facilities.”
Crouch says Census data show the number of Kentuckians over the age of 80 in 2010 was more than double what it was in 1980. He points out that the number of health care jobs in Warren County alone grew by more than 33 percent over a ten-year period beginning in 2001.
But he also says Kentucky faces the tough demographic reality of having a growing number of older people, while seeing little to no growth in the younger workforce-age population.
Crouch also believes the state and nation need to have a welcoming attitude toward immigrants.
He points to Census data that show the country’s Hispanic and Asian-American populations both grew by 43 percent between 2000 and 2010. By comparison, the nation’s white population increased just 1.2 percent during that same time period.
The demographer says maintaining at least moderate levels of immigration offers the best way for the country to make up for a declining number of babies being born in the U.S.
“We, and the rest of the world, are going to go into population decline in a very short period, in the next 10, 20, 30 years. So immigration is going to be a key to the United States doing better, because Europe has a shrinking population, and China has a shrinking population. Actually, the United States—because of immigration—is one of the few countries that actually had a growing population.”
Crouch adds Kentucky’s relative lack of racial and ethnic diversity is another factor that create steep challenges for the commonwealth’s future ability to have enough young members of the workforce who will pay taxes and take care of an aging population in the state.
