A lesson in demographics

The Wall Street Journal reports:

Six years after the recession ended, the nation’s birthrate has begun to climb again.

For every 1,000 women of childbearing age last year, there were 62.9 births, up from 62.5 births in 2013, according to data released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That is the first increase since 2007, when the recession began.

The nation’s total fertility rate – a statistical measure of how many children each woman is likely to have over her lifetime – also rose slightly, to 1.862 children, from 1.858.

So what is to be done? The good news is that the improved economy is contributing to a baby boom of sorts. (Again, from the Journal: “While the uptick in fertility and birthrates is modest and could reverse, it appears the country’s improving economy is encouraging more couples to have children. The lingering financial toll of the recession prompted many young and less-educated Americans in particular to delay childbearing.”) And even better, teen birthrates are down, reducing one factor contributing to poverty. We could certainly promote pro-growth policies to kick-start the economy and make it more affordable to have children (through measures like the expanded child tax credit). And we could also encourage immigration, especially that of highly skilled and educated workers.

That’s right. All the anti-immigration Malthusians out there should perk up.  Let’s talk strictly about legal immigration. Opponents are right that immigration is tied to declining standards of living — but in exactly the opposite way they think. If we do not sustain our population and attract the best and the brightest to compete in the world we are in for rocky economic times and some serious demographic problems. The good news is that with immigration we get a triple benefit. Not only do immigrants add to the economy and tax revenues, but statistically they are younger on average, plus they have more children than native-born Americans. (The know-nothings like to mock Jeb Bush for saying so, but this is factually indisputable.)

Read the full article here.