Bridging the Ethnic Generation Gap: Why an Aging Population Will Depend on a New Generation of Workers

There is a generation gap in the United States and it is not only a difference in age. It is a difference in color as well. The predominantly white Baby Boomers are just this year (2011) beginning to reach retirement age. A new generation of Latinos and Asians will take their place in the U.S. economy as workers and taxpayers.

It is the tax dollars of these immigrants and children of immigrants that will sustain the Social Security and Medicare programs upon which the Baby Boomers will rely. And it is these immigrants and children of immigrants who will become the doctors, nurses, health aides and countless other workers upon whom so many aging Baby Boomers will depend. This article examines this demographic transformation of U.S. society.

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