white middle-class population that we talk about in the 1950s and 1960s, that s disappearing. we have a population that is changing the race ethnic makeup from the bottom up. reporter: the trim lines are clear. older americans, whiter. younger americans, more nonwhite. most of that trend is being driven by a surging latino population. with a much higher birth rate than any other ethnic group. further bolstered by legal immigration. the implications of this evolving america will touch everything from politics, where hispanic voters will wield increasing power, to education. we need to focus on making sure that we can adjust and adapt our educational systems to people who speak different languages at home than they do outside. for people whose parents may not have as high an education as maybe some of their peers in the community. reporter: within the ranks of nonwhite americans, some notable changes too. latinos continuing to surpass the black population. and among african-america
we have a population that is changing the race ethnic makeup from the bottom up. reporter: the trim lines are clear. older americans, whiter. younger americans, more nonwhite. most of that trend is being driven by a surging latino population. with a much higher birth rate than any other ethnic group. further bolstered by legal immigration. the implications of this evolving america will touch everything from politics, where hispanic voters will wield increasing power, to education. we need to focus on making sure that we can adjust and adapt our educational systems to people who speak different languages at home than they do outside. for people whose parents may not have as high an education as maybe some of their peers in the community. reporter: within the ranks of nonwhite americans, some notable changes too. latinos continuing to surpass the black population. and among african-americans, an alarming increase in the percentage of children growing up in single-parent households.
the unemployment number has inched down to 8.8%, do you see any way that it can that the recovery can speed up, employment can increase to the extent by the middle of the election season we ll be down 8% or lower? some people are starting to say that could be possible. one thing that s sort of confounded me. you only count in that unemployment rate when you ve been looking for a job recently. as the unemployment rate or jobs picture improves you expect millions of americans discouraged to come back into the workforce and start looking for a job. people that gave up and haven t looked for months or a year. that would mean the unemployment rate goes up. as the market gets stronger you think it goes up rather than down which obviously politically is not good for this president. but like i said, we haven t seen it yet. some people are saying we could continue to see it drop. below 8 by the election would surprise pretty much everybody if we could get there. thanks so much. erin burne
it s a mirror image for minorities whose population surged over the same time frame. every state in the union grew more diverse including places like arizona and georgia which have long voted republican in presidential races. ron fournier is editor and chief of the national journal and the cover tory is the next america. thanks so much for helping sort through it. the big political implications here are shifts in voting power as we see minorities rise. it s an incredible story that ron brownstein anchored for us. one thing when you dig into the numbers you look at big picture story lines. for example, a state like georgia, arizona, even texas could be in play this year. become barack could go after those states because of this huge growth in nonwhite americans. it would certainly be a whole new way of looking at the electoral college if texas were in play for a democratic president. what are we seeing in terms of
be competitive with china, with other countries, we re going to have to do a better job of educating those people. those young, nonwhite americans. on the one hand, you have the enormous burden of an ageing society and all the entitlement costs this go with that. on the other hand, you have to find the money to invest in improving the skills of this future workforce. if we don t, we could see the level of college attainment begin to decline. that is a very complex political challenge, especially when you consider this young population that needs the investment is primarily nonwhite and a ageing, gray population is overwhelmingly white and skeptical of government spending. you have the ingredients for a lot of sustained political conflict that will go well beyond these two years for quite a while. which is so brilliantly said and summed up in a less artful way by governor rendell who said