APA Assignment

Changing Demographics and Changing Views: The Stimulus for Diversity Studies and Work

As we discuss further in the chapters to follow, in the United States, after years of overt discrimination and

exclusion, the Civil Rights and women’s movements led to the passage of laws and efforts to reduce

discrimination. These laws also required proactive methods, such as affirmative action, to include previously

excluded groups, including racial and ethnic minorities and women. Following the Civil Rights movement, in

1987, Johnston and Packer’s research on changing demographics of workers in the twenty-first century was

published.* Their research sent shockwaves through organizations, bringing concern about how to “manage” the increasing diversity and how to capitalize on it from an economic perspective.* The Civil Rights and women’s movements, changing laws, and changing demographics comprise moral/social, legal, and economic

pressures, which are inter-related and have stimulated much of today’s focus on diversity.*

From a business perspective, much of the impetus for change was changing demographics, which would mean

different employees (and, ultimately, customers). Johnston and Packer noted that by the year 2000, 85% of the

net new entrants into the U.S. workforce would be women and minorities. Often quoted, this statement was

widely misunderstood to mean that by 2000, White men would constitute only 15% of the workforce. However,

White men were then, and remain still, the largest single group in the . It was the net new entrants

who were increasingly women and minorities. The phrase net new entrants refers to the difference between

those who entered the workforce (e.g., via becoming of working age or immigration) and those who left the

workforce (e.g., via death, retirement, or otherwise withdrawing). Although women and minorities would

comprise 85% of the net new entrants, because of the immense size of the workforce and because White men

are the single largest majority in the workforce, it will be a long time before White men are no longer the largest

single group. This misunderstanding or misinterpretation of terminology and projections about the increasing

diversity of the workforce fueled interest in the topic and prompted concerns about the organizational

ramifications of these changing demographics.

Ten years after their groundbreaking Workforce 2000, the Hudson Institute published Workforce 2020, which

again predicted changes in work and in workforce demographics, but for the year 2020.* The report emphasized that about 66% of the workforce would continue to be non-Hispanic white men and women, 14%

would be Latinos, 11% non-Hispanic Blacks, and 6% Asians. Most important to the demographics described in

Book Title: eTextbook: Diversity in Organizations Chapter 1. Introduction Changing Demographics and Changing Views: The Stimulus for Diversity Studies and Work

labor force

Workforce 2020 were the aging and retirement of large numbers of baby-boomers, resulting in a plateauing of

worker age.

Table 1.1 provides highlights of the U.S. civilian labor force in 1992, 2002, 2012, and projections for 2022. As

predicted, the workforce is growing increasingly diverse in race and ethnicity, but non-Hispanic Whites remain

the largest group. Racial and ethnic diversity will continue to increase, partly because the workforce is aging,

and younger workers are more diverse in race and ethnicity than in the past.36 Economic changes have

prevented many aging workers from retiring completely, and there is even more age diversity in organizations

than in the past. Table 1.2 provides population (rather than workforce) highlights for key general, social, and

economic characteristics, including education, income, and poverty levels for the population. Of note is that

women’s earnings continue to be less than men’s, even when women are working full-time, year round (see

Table 1.2). These issues have important implications for individuals, employers, and organizational diversity.

Civilian Labor Force by Age, Gender, and Ethnicity, 1992, 2012, and Projected 2022 (Numbers in Thousands)

1992 % 2002 % 2012 % 2022 %

Group

Total, 16 years and older

128,105 100.0 144,863 100.0 154,975 100.0 163,450 100.0

Age, years:

16 to 24 21,617 16.9 22,366 15.4 21,285 13.7 18,462 11.3

25 to 54 91,429 71.4 101,720 70.2 101,253 65.3 103,195 63.1

55 and older 15,060 11.8 20,777 14.3 32,437 20.9 41,793 25.6

Gender:

Men 69,964 54.6 77,500 53.5 82,327 53.1 86,913 53.2

Women 58,141 45.4 67,364 46.5 72,648 46.9 76,537 46.8

Race:

White 108,837 85.0 120,150 82.9 123,684 79.8 126,923 77.7

Black 14,162 11.1 16,565 11.4 18,400 11.9 20,247 12.4

Asian 5,106 4.0 6,604 4.6 8,188 5.3 10,135 6.2

All other groups (1)

- --- 1,544 1.1 4,703 3.0 6,145 3.8

Ethnicity:

Hispanic origin 11,338 8.9 17,943 12.4 24,391 15.7 31,179 19.1

Table 1.1.

1992 % 2002 % 2012 % 2022 %

Other than Hispanic origin

116,767 91.1 126,920 87.6 130,584 84.3 132,271 80.9

White non- Hispanic

98,724 77.1 103,349 71.3 101,892 65.7 99,431 60.8

Age of baby boomers

28 to 46 38 to 56 48 to 66 --- 58 to 76

i (1) The “all other groups” category includes (1) those classified as being of multiple racial origin and (2) the racial categories of (2a) American Indian and Alaska Native and (2b) Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islanders.

Source: Toosi, M. (2013). “Labor force projections to 2022: the labor force participation rate continues to fall.” Bureau of Labor Statistics. Available at ht tp://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2013/article/labor-force-projections-to-2022-the-labor-force-participation-rate-continues-to-fall-1.htm, acce ssed September 7, 2014.

Table 1.2.

People Quick Facts

Source: Adapted from People QuickFacts, U.S. Census, http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html, Accessed October 14, 2014. 2012 data source: Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Selected Age Groups by Sex for the United States, States, Counties, and Puerto Rico

Commonwealth and Municipios: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2013 Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division Release Date: June 2014. http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?

pid=PEP_2013_PEPAGESEX&prodType=table, accessed August 30, 2014.

As the Hudson Institute predicted, economic changes and globalization have resulted in more service-oriented

jobs and more international customers and business relationships. The loss of manufacturing jobs, where there

is less opportunity for contact with dissimilar others, and the growth of service industry jobs, which involve

considerable person-to-person interaction with dissimilar others, continue. These changes in types of jobs make

awareness of and efforts to understand and to learn to interact with those who are dissimilar more critical than

ever. Further, service industry jobs, often occupied by women, continue to increase, while manufacturing jobs,

often occupied by men, continue to decline through layoffs, plant closures, and offshoring. Increasing

globalization has also resulted in greater interaction among people from diverse backgrounds. Not only do

employees interact with peers from diverse backgrounds in their local environment, they also interact with

people who are from different cultures and belief systems and who often speak different first languages.

Experience interacting, living, and working with people from different groups is an important skill in today’s

organizations.

Demographic changes are occurring in many countries around the world. In the United States and Canada,

where growth of the workforce is slowing, fewer younger workers are being added than in the past. In some

European countries and in Japan and China, the workforce is actually shrinking; more people are leaving than

joining it. Along with the striking age of Japan’s workforce, its underutilization of women workers is notable and

has received considerable criticism. As a result of some of the demographic changes, many countries

increasingly view developing nations as sources of new employees, even though a number of these countries

have historically resisted, and sometimes continue to resist, immigration. Immigrants often have educational

backgrounds, language skills, strengths, and weaknesses that are different from those of native workers, at

times requiring efforts to integrate immigrants successfully while not discarding the original goals of equal

opportunity legislation.*