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US Births Dip to 30-yr Low; Fertility Rate Sinks Further Below Replacement Level

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Re: US Births Dip to 30-yr Low; Fertility Rate Sinks Further Below Replacement Level

#3

Post by CalRobert »

Sample of one (well, two) here but my wife and I decided it was now or never as we hit our mid thirties and decided to have a kid. She still has mountains of student debt precluding homeownership though which means it's unlikely we'll have two.

We also waited until the kid could be something other than American though, so we're outliers.

Re: US Births Dip to 30-yr Low; Fertility Rate Sinks Further Below Replacement Level

#5

Post by 0xB31B1B »

Student loans, housing costs, job prospects, healthcare, childcare. People are making a rational decision to avoid children they can’t afford. We as a society need to re-examine the causes of rising costs of essentials so reproduction is no longer financially infeasible.

Re: US Births Dip to 30-yr Low; Fertility Rate Sinks Further Below Replacement Level

#6

Post by CalRobert »

CalRobert wrote: post #3

Sample of one (well, two) here but my wife and I decided it was now or never as we hit our mid thirties and decided to have a kid. She still has mountains of student debt precluding homeownership though which means it's unlikely we'll have two. We also waited until the kid could be something other than American though, so we're outliers.

Then again, the lower the birthrate of wealthy high-emission folks, the greater the chance civilization survives another century,

Re: US Births Dip to 30-yr Low; Fertility Rate Sinks Further Below Replacement Level

#7

Post by craftyguy »

gregorymichael wrote: post #2

What are the economic ramifications of fertility rate being below the replacement level?

There will be a lot more older folks, who expected to retire and collect social security, still in the workforce as a result of diminishing payments by youngsters into that program. Demand for medical care will continue grow as the majority of the population gets older.

I believe Japan is experiencing this right now at a large scale.

Re: US Births Dip to 30-yr Low; Fertility Rate Sinks Further Below Replacement Level

#8

Post by mhneu »

For decades, the US birth rate has been held up by immigration. American values have been to regard the country as a nation of immigrants, who not only act as a source of youthful workers, but also have more kids than Americans who have been here longer. So the US has avoided workforce aging, as has happened in parts of Europe and especially Japan, through immigration.

With the recent reduction in immigration, accelerated by the party in power now, the US is going to face the same low birth rate problems as other advanced economies.

And the people leading immigration suppression in the US know this.

Paul Ryan in December: This is going to be the new economic challenge for America: people. Baby boomers are retiring—I did my part, but we need to have higher birth rates in this country,” Ryan told reporters on Thursday. Ryan, the Wisconsin Republican and current Speaker of the House, “did [his] part” by having three children. http://www.newsweek.com/paul-ryan-wants-you-have-more-kids-7...

It's also worth adding: the political environment in the US for decades means that one party wants to make it hard for two-parent working families to have more kids (because those two-parent families tend to vote for the other party, and one-earner families have kids that vote for their party). That's a big part of the reason the US has poor child care and maternity leave support -- because those policies are a political football in the US.

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