AFSCME 3357-HOF'S BLOG

US Census Global Population Information

When thinking about globalism & job, it is critical to think in terms of world population. Remember the 1980s when Ronald Reagan poo-pooed the need for increased US funding for global overpopulation efforts? Well, guess what? The 1980s babies are now in the workforce, and although in recent years the rate of global population growth has slowed, the actual numbers of new mouths to feed is still going way up, a net increase of about 73 million for 2004 alone. To put things in perspective, over the course of a four-year presidency, the world population will increase by about 300 million, roughly the same as the total population of the United States.

If labor is a supply & demand commodity, when the supply of labor goes up, and if (through increased productivity) the demand per capita for labor goes down, the natural tendency is for wages to go down. Depending upon the circumstances, this can be not just a decrease, but a spiral. Decreased buying power from lower wages decreases the demand for the products of the labor. Think of the 1930s Great Depression.

Here are a few statistics from the Census Bureau for population increases 2003-2004 (rounded).

India - population growth 16 million
China population growth 6 million
Indonesia pop growth 4 million
US population growth 3 million
Mexico population growth 1 million
Philippines P. growth 2 million

I was most surprised by the United States population growth figure. During my projected lifetime (1960s through 2030-2040), the United States population will easily double. At my actuarial death, the US Population will be roughly what India's was when I was born.

These statistics graphically show that our biggest national security problem isn't Iraq. It isn't North Korea. It isn't Terrorism. It is our own fertility and the stress that fertility places on our natural resources and our social and economic structures.


World Population Information