1.3 The Urgent Need Today: Changing US Demographics

There was a time not that long ago when growing up in the United States meant it was possible to mingle only with people of the same ethnic background. It is still true that people often socialize in cultural bubbles, experiencing life through the lens of those with whom they share common socioeconomic backgrounds. But the soaring pace of migration over the last 20 years has made it nearly impossible to ignore the de-homogenization of American life and thus the workplace.

With this in mind, we will look at some of the key demographic trends in the US requiring a greater need for intercultural competency. There are 11 dramatic shifts that require aspiring leaders in business, government, health care, and education to communicate across cultures. And by cultures, we are referring to specific groups that identify or are perceived as having a unique set of needs, interests, and environments.

1. Immigration: As of 2018, immigrants accounted for 13.7 percent of the US population, or 44.8 million people, nearly triple the share (4.8 percent) in 1970. Half of these immigrants above the age of five consider themselves proficient in English.1 The number of immigrants is expected to double by 2060.2 Prior to the 1970s, most immigrants to the United States were from Europe. But today, and for the future, Asia and Latin America are expected to be the top sources of new foreign residents.3

2. Hispanic: There was a 133.4 percent growth of US residents, age five and older, who spoke Spanish at home between 1990 and 2016, according to the US Census Bureau. Between 1965 and 2015, about half of all US immigrants, or 30 million people, came from Latin America.4 The Census Bureau predicts that by 2060, 28.6 percent of the US population will be Hispanic, up from 17.8 percent in 2016.

3. Asian: The Pew Research Center predicts that Asians will be the largest immigrant group in the US by 2055, surpassing Hispanic immigrants.5 China, India, and the Philippines are currently the leading source countries for Asian immigration into the United States.

4. The Wealth Gap: Pew reports that the wealth gap between America’s richest and poorest families more than doubled from 1989 to 2016. The United States has one of the highest levels of income inequality in the world, a situation that analysts say can lead to social unrest. 6

5. Nonreligious Growth: About 70.6 percent of Americans identify as Christian, according to Pew. That number has been decreasing steadily for seven decades. American religious diversity is expected to increase as steady growth is forecast for the small Muslim and Hindu populations. But the largest growth is predicted to be among those with no religious affiliation.7 Thus, the so-called Christian values that once drove many policies in the US might meet with growing opposition.

6. Mixing It Up: In 1967, roughly 3 percent of Americans were married to someone of a different race or ethnicity than themselves. In 2017, one in six married couples—or 17 percent—were in interracial marriages, according to Pew. For the purposes of our discourse here, we will use the US Census Bureau racial categorizations: White, Black, Hispanic, Native American/Pacific Islander, and Asian. (These are superimposed categories with no biological or anthropological basis).8 Our increased connections with people of mixed races and mixed ethnicities will require a new way of addressing, respecting, and understanding identities—real and applied.

7. LGBT: The percentage of American adults identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) increased to 4.5 percent in 2017. This is up from 4.1 percent in 2016 and 3.5 percent in 2012 when the Gallup polling agency first began tracking this category.9 Gallup attributes the increase, expected to continue, to millennials being more open about their gender and sexual identity than previous generations. However, despite the growing support for gay marriage, Gallup reported in 2020 that 24 percent of those polled said consensual sex between same-sex partners should be illegal.10 Since many firms have LGBTQ rights as part of their diversity programs, discomfort with these identities could disrupt work communication without mitigating measures.

8. Diversity at Work: By 2024, less than 60 percent of the labor force will define itself as “white non-Hispanic.” That is a contrast to 30 years prior, when more than 75 percent of workers identified in that category.11 The spread of different groups across the company hierarchy, as well as communication to and between these groups, will impact employee attitudes and satisfaction as countless surveys already reveal. For instance, in a 2019 report, Boston Consulting Group noted that even though nearly all US companies have diversity programs, “only about a quarter of employees in diverse groups said that they have personally benefited.”

9. Disability: In 2017, 36 percent of adults with disabilities were employed, compared to 78 percent of adults without disabilities, according to RespectAbility, a nongovernmental organization that analyzed federal data.12 However, this number is expected to rise dramatically due to four factors: the growth of remote work, government pressure on greater accessibility, major advancements in technical support for those with disabilities, and expansive efforts by advocacy groups.

10. Single Parents: A 2019 Pew study of 130 countries and territories revealed that the US had the world’s highest rate of children living in single-parent households, about 25 percent.13 This trend is predicted to increase by 12 percent by 2030, based on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) data.14

11. The Graying of America: This is the actual name of a US Census Bureau report in 2018, in which the bureau announced that by 2035, seniors will outnumber children for the first time in US history. The report states: “With this swelling number of older adults, the country could see greater demands for healthcare, in-home caregiving and assisted living facilities. It could also affect Social Security.”15 This could also mean an increasing number of workers will be taking care of their children and their parents simultaneously.

The 11 trends you have just reviewed have a common narrative thread: the need to communicate across cultures in every area of our lives. Recognizing how these trends affect our perceptions of cultural status in any environment we enter—work, school, health facilities, sports, romance, travel—is going to be crucial for our efforts to foster positive communication.

So what types of intercultural issues might we consider when looking at these trends?

As students, you are probably in the best position to consider the following: Between 1996 and 2016, the non-White share of undergraduates grew from 29.6 percent to 45.2 percent and non-White share of graduate students grew from 20.8 percent to 32 percent.16 But in 2016, people of color held only 21.1 percent of full-time faculty positions. That comparative distribution has led to calls for greater diversity in the academic sphere by students and those who teach them.

Sometimes communication is a call for justice, retribution, and a new way of thinking about the past. Consider the public, political, and academic discourse—sometimes divisive but enlightening—over plans for some schools to use the New York Times Magazine’s 1619 Project as a main teaching text in high schools.17 The project proposes that those seeking to study US history should begin with the arrival of slaves in North America as their focal point, instead of the Declaration of Independence.

Then there is the refrain among research organizations that by a certain year, say, 2045, the US will be a majority non-White country.18 If we are all Americans, why is that so important? Are there such vast value and communication differences between people of color and Whites that we need a set of guidelines for interaction and equity? Or is it related to the fact that Hispanic and Black minorities have had to contend for decades with lower incomes, lower rates of higher education, and higher levels of discrimination? This is a politicized polemic that we cannot answer here, but these fractious issues represent why intercultural communication is such an urgent matter.

It’s possible that if more Americans studied intercultural communication, issues ranging from the disproportionate incarceration of people of color to the sharp rise in hate crimes against Muslim Americans after 9/11 would have been reduced, prevented, or at least more widely analyzed across every level of society.

With the increasing diversity in the United States, there is also a growth in the willingness of minority groups to proudly show their differences and also ask for the recognition of injustices. This movement toward greater identity consciousness—critics call it identity politics—has created a host of intercultural communication changes in the past five years alone. There are movements fueled by workplace initiatives, social media, and celebrities championing the rights of groups, holidays, and historical events. From Black Lives Matter to Pride to Latina Equal Pay Day, these movements, celebrations, and commemorations have created new exchanges, and sometimes conflicts, within American society.

It’s important to remember that the change in US demographics comes at a time when there are tremendous global demographic upheavals: The war in Syria was at its apex in 2015, followed by an alleged genocide in Myanmar and many other conflicts and catastrophes around the globe, causing an unprecedented 79.5 million refugees on our planet as of 2019. That’s 1 in every 97 people, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Global Trends 2020 report.19 The conflicts and natural disasters that led to the mass displacement of one percent of the world’s population also impact our perception of and communication with other cultures. As an example, Muslim refugees fleeing armed conflict today are treated very differently than refugees who fled former Soviet Union and Communist Eastern Europe during the Cold War and were embraced by the West.

Economic trends also play a key role in our attitude toward immigrants and diversity in general. During the Great Depression, the US government required millions of Mexicans and Mexican Americans—US citizens—to return to Mexico. There might be many shifts in attitudes and demographics in the next decades that no analyst can predict as a result of economic turmoil.

In a more positive vein, many businesses today view diversity as a benefit in terms of creativity, profit, and productivity.20 Changing US demographics prove that improving intercultural communication is no longer a token favor to minorities but a matter of competitive survival for any organization. We will see this in our future topics about diversity in the business world.