Millennials eclipse Boomers as potential voters, but not everywhere
In The Who’s classic song, “My Generation,” Roger Daltrey wails, “I hope I die before I get old.” Personally, I hope GenXers, Millennials, and even the emergent Generation Z will vote before they get old. This year is projected to be the first that there are more Millennials of voting-age than Baby Boomers in the U.S. electorate. However, youth is wasted on the young, and for many, so is the right to vote. Our new nonpartisan Representing US project reveals where each generation’s influence is greatest, assuming they vote.
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College: Who’s going, finishing and finding work afterwards
The manicured greens on the college quads have largely emptied out, as another batch of hopeful graduates has earned their degrees. Which makes it a good time to consider key trends impacting the college experience: Who’s going, who’s graduating, and what sort of labor market are grads entering after tossing their mortarboards in the air? In 10 states and Washington, D.C., recent college grads face lower unemployment rates than the overall U.S. rate. And newly minted English majors face the highest unemployment rates among the 20 most common majors.
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Polling season ahead: What you need to know
Now that we are several states into the primaries, with the mid-term elections nearly upon us, there couldn’t be a better time to review some fundamentals about political polling. Major media outlets and many survey research firms have a strong reputational incentive for investing in solid surveys. Still, some pollsters and media outlets have either partisan motivations, more interest in attention than credibility, or both. We should all beware of polling results that seem too good (or too bad) to be true—especially those that may circulate on social media with little information concerning who did them or how they were done.
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'Ban the Box' may be counterproductive
Just a week after the announcement that the nation’s unemployment rate had hit its lowest level since late 2000, I spent a day immersed in some of the latest and greatest research ultimately aimed addressing labor market weaknesses at the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank.
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Family has never been simple
The U.S. process for family-based or “chain” migration is complex. While the system allows for relatives to migrate to the United States for family reunification, it is far from an open-door policy. There are backlogs for family-sponsored visas ranging from two to 23 years depending on country of origin, family member being sponsored, and status of the sponsor.
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Against a backdrop of fewer babies, Utah leads the nation in birth rates
When used in a demographic context, natural change refers to the answer to a basic population equation: births minus deaths. Of the 42 states who saw population growth in 2017, more than half of them (23) have natural change—not migration—to thank for the majority of their growth. The youthful states of California (+214,000), Texas (+210,000), and New York (+73,000) lead the nation in natural increase in the latest year. And Utah’s nation-leading birth rate helped it lay claim to the title of 3rd fastest growing state in 2017.
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Do schools reduce, replicate, or exacerbate inequality?
The answer to the question of whether school districts decrease, replicate, or increase inequality is “Yes.” Or, more precisely, it depends on which district you are talking about. New research reveals that third graders in districts with high average reading and math test scores will not necessarily see bigger (or smaller) gains by eighth grade than will third graders in lower-scoring districts. But even the most effective school districts are only able to help their third graders achieve one extra year of growth by eighth grade.
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Destination U.S.: Five facts about states' international migrants in 2017
International migration is the most variable part of the equation for population change--as federal immigration policies and procedures, changing global economic conditions, and numerous other causes can dramatically change the flows of people into (and out of) the U.S. In 2017, front-runner state California gathered up 165,000 net international arrivals in 2017, ahead of Florida (+144,000), New York (+130,000), and Texas (+110,000). Not a single state saw more international arrivals in 2017 than in 2016, a reversal of otherwise climbing international migration figures over the decade, for nearly all states.
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Delayed adulthood: The Millennial falsehood
Hi. I’m a Millennial. We need to talk. In 2016, 15 percent of Older Millennials were living with their parents. Should we see this as a delay in adulthood? I would argue, no. Older Millennials are haunted by the Great Recession, and many are pinned down by crippling debt. For many, the “decision” to live at home with parents instead of independently is the financially responsible and economically rational choice. The traditional norms that may have governed our idea of adulthood may be transitioning into something that more accurately reflects this generation.
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