Diversity at Work

Have you looked at the ooze news lately?

I'm not talking about "On the sidewalk, one Sunday morning, lies a body oozin' life. Someone's sneakin' �round the corner. Is that someone Mack the Knife?"

We're talking about Eugene L. Roberts Jr., the legendary Philadelphia Inquirer and New York Times editor, who advised that, "Many important stories don't break. They seep, trickle and ooze. Let's be sure we are covering the ooze."

So where's some ooze you can use?

The U.S. Census Bureau recently announced new numbers tracking state population growth. For the most part, newspapers wrote the pro-forma update stories. They noted that the number of minorities continues to grow -- fueled largely by immigration. And they reported that the number of whites who are not Hispanic continues to shrink.

But let's look at the oozing story behind the numbers. And let�s pay attention to the pocketbook implications of a profoundly changing labor force. Looking at your future workers is a corridor to explaining to readers the long range and historic implications of their communities changing from white to brown.

But this is not an immigration story.

And this is not a black story. 

This is a story about money.

This is also a story about using the demographic information oozing from the U.S. Census and other demographers to tell your readers who is going to pay for their Social Security and their services.

"Population is the single most important factor in determining the size and composition of the labor force. ..." according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts. The National Center for Education Statistics finds that minorities accounted for 42 percent of the nation's elementary, middle and high school students in 2005. Among pre-kindergarteners, those 5 years old and younger, minorities now number 45 percent. Those tots are the future workers.

The pool of white workers who are not Hispanic is shrinking. And it will continue to shrink, from 70 percent now to 66 percent in 2014, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. By that time, Hispanics will be 20 percent of the workforce -- nearly twice as many as African Americans, who will be 12 percent, and Asians, who will be about 5 percent. Hispanics now constitute a larger proportion of the labor force than blacks. And that will continue, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says.

While the workers are getting browner, white people are aging. That means that tomorrow's minority workers will pay for the Social Security checks and for the increasing number of services that an increasingly elderly white population will need.

Look in heartland of America: Illinois. In that state, the elderly population is 80 percent white. The young population is nearly 50 percent brown. It is a perfect example of the profound implications of these two trends.

Illinois is a gateway state for immigrants. Illinois is losing its young. The remaining white population is aging. Hence it will be the taxes of young black, Mexican and Asian workers -- many of them immigrants and children of immigrants -- who will take care of Illinois� mostly white senior citizens.

Minorities constitute nearly 70 percent of Cook County public schools, the home county to Chicago and its closest suburbs. But here�s the ooze: Figures calculated on the National Center for Educational Statistics Web site show that minority enrollments in some of the suburban counties surrounding Chicago range from one third to about one half.

So finally, let's talk about education and money: Black Americans, Asian Americans and Mexican Americans will increasingly replace white Americans in the Illinois workforce and as taxpayers.

The Illinois State Board of Higher Education has found that college graduates earn 50 percent more than high school graduates in a lifetime. That's more than a half-million dollars in additional income. The more money you make, the more taxes you pay.

Since education largely determines income and therefore buying power, let's look at education levels by race for those 25 and older in Illinois. These adult education levels are a leading indicator of the education levels of the younger generation.

• Non�Hispanic whites: More than 90 percent are high school graduates and about a third have a college degree.

• Blacks: More than 80 percent are high school graduates and about 20 percent have a college degree.

• Asians: More than 90 percent are high school graduates and a whopping 71 percent have a college degree.

• Latinos: Just under 60 percent are high school graduates and slightly more than 10 percent have a college degree.
  

We love breaking news. We can see it. We can feel it. 

Oozing news is incremental. But it outlines the themes of the future.