Young Latinos, Older Anglos, and Public Policy: Lessons from California.

UNITED States; CALIFORNIA

This article focuses on the minority population of California. The 1990 census figures for California's generations paint a picture of potential interethnic and intergenerational conflict in the very near future. While the Anglo proportion is shrinking, the Latino share is booming. In 1970, Latinos were truly a minority--10.9 percent of the state. By 1990, that figure had grown to 25.7 percent (Bureau of the Census, 1991), and by the year 2000 will be around 35 percent (Hayes-Bautista et al., 1988). The reason that the Anglo population is shrinking relative to the Latino population is that Latinos as a group are over a decade younger than Anglos, and because of immigration and increasing fertility, are as a group actually growing younger rather than older for the time being. The economy of the state is quickly and increasingly being driven by Latinos and others of the emergent (non-Anglo) majority population. Their economic success, or failure, will influence the future economic and social well-being of the largely Anglo elderly population in California.