American Demographics July/August 2020 by globalretailmag

J U LY/A U G U S T 2 0 2 0

The Doctor Will See You Now Americans are avoiding the doctor’s office Boomers at the Ballot Box Older voters could decide the next election Bye-bye Babies? US fertility rate hits all-time low Connecting During a Crisis The “smartphone-mostly” crowd keeps growing Statistical Snapshots Whose news do we trust? On The Bookshelf New books and films are putting population trends into focus

THE NEW WORLD OF WORK Powerful Trends are Driving Changes in the Workplace

“THIS IS NOT GOING TO BE A TOUGH DECISION.”

JULY/AUGUST 2020

IN THIS ISSUE OF PUBLISHER Phillip Russo

EDITORIAL STAFF Brad Edmondson

American Demographics is Back

The Doctor Will See You Now

Boomers at the Ballot Box

Tim Simmons Cheryl Russell David Orgel Sara Williamson George Puro Dane Twining Tom Prendergast

Bye-bye Babies? CREATIVE DIRECTOR

The New World of Work

12 Statistical Snapshots on media and the message 14 Connecting During a Crisis 15 This Monthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Bookshelf New books and films are putting population trends into focus

Melissa Subatch

American Demographics and americandemographics.com are owned by the Private Label Manufacturers Association, 630 Third Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10017 and licensed for publication by Kent Media, 240 Central Park South, New York, N.Y. 10019. Periodicals postage paid at Macedonia, OH and additional mailing offices.

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THE NEW WORLD OF WORK Powerful Trends are Driving Changes in the Workplace

American Demographics is Back!

elcome to our Summer 2020 issue of American Demographics. The disruption of normal life by the coronavirus continues as do the forecasts of long-term change. This month’s feature story examines how the ongoing pandemic is already impacting the nation’s workers and workplaces. Have transformations under way merely been fast-forwarded? Are new norms emerging that will last? Trying to see into the future is always problematic but knowing what may occur can be the difference between being a beneficiary or victim. Other stories within the issue look at fears of seeking medical treatment, how older voters could tilt the vote this November, factors that are driving American’s fertility rates to a new low, and how technology is shaping our relationships with one another and the wider world around us. American Demographics has been the place to go for information about the trends influencing our lives for more than 25 years. As always, the staff of editors, reporters and experts, whether working from home or office, pore through the dense governmental and academic publications in demographics, geology, gerontology, sociology and other fields to bring you insight into the diverse world around us. American Demographics is back and better than ever.

to subscribe, visit: www.americandemographics.com

AMERICANDEMOGRAPHICS I JULY / AUGUST 2020

By Cheryl Russell

The Doctor Will See You Now Americans are avoiding the doctor’s office

n a normal year, 8 out of 10 Americans visit a

variation by state in the percentage of Americans avoid-

doctor, and most do so at least twice. Among

ing medical care. In New York, hardest hit by the virus,

people aged 65 or older, the majority visit a

44 percent had delayed getting medical care in the past

doctor four or five times a year, according

four weeks, in Texas 38 percent, in California 41 percent, in

to the National Center for Health Statistics.

Montana 46 percent.

This year might be different.

Because they are afraid, parents are keeping their children

Americans are skipping doctor visits because they are

away from the doctor’s office even for well-child visits. The

afraid. Forty-two percent of Americans say they are very

number of vaccine doses given to children fell sharply in

concerned about going to a doctor because of coronavirus,

April, the New York Times reports. The pediatric electronic

according to a Gallup survey fielded in April. Another 41

health records company PCC reports a 50 percent decline

percent are moderately concerned. Young adults are just

in measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine doses.

as afraid as older adults, college graduates are as fearful as the less educated, and rural folk as much as city residents.

All this delayed medical care has created a problem for healthcare businesses. In the middle of a pandemic, the

Perhaps this fear explains a stunning finding: 41 percent of

healthcare industry is reeling because so many Americans

Americans have delayed getting medical care in the past

are afraid to go to the doctor. Sixty-three percent of health-

four weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to

care businesses report that COVID-19 has had a large neg-

the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey fielded in

ative effect on them, according to the Census Bureau’s

the middle of May. It is probably no coincidence that this

Small Business Pulse Survey. In mid-May, 69 percent of

figure is almost identical to the 42 percent who expressed

healthcare businesses reported a decline in their operating

great concern about potentially exposing themselves to

revenues in the past week, and 26 percent had to cut staff.

coronavirus at a doctor’s office, as reported by Gallup. Just

Will things improve in the future? Many aren’t so sure. Only

as Gallup found few demographic differences in the fear

about one in four healthcare businesses think operations

factor, so too the Census Bureau finds surprisingly little

will return to normal within three months. There’s another wrench being thrown in the works. Health insurance. In the US today, health insurance determines doctor visits. Among people under age 65, fully 46 percent of those without health insurance did not go to a doctor in the past 12 months versus only 17 percent of those with insurance. As people lose their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic, the number of Americans without health insurance could climb by as much as 34 percent, according to projections by the Urban Institute. The economic pain inflicted on the healthcare industry by the coronavirus pandemic may be felt for years to come. AMERICANDEMOGRAPHICS.COM I JULY / AUGUST 2020

Boomers at the Ballot Box Older voters could decide the next election ow that the election season is upon us, it’s a good time to ask an important question: Do people become more conservative with age? The answer to this question is particularly relevant today because the large baby-boom generation is filling the 65-plus age group, and aging boomers will be the single largest block of voters in November. So, the question is, have baby-boomers become more conservative with age? The answer is, it depends. Or, to paraphrase a famous quote from the first boomer president, it depends on what the meaning of conservative is. Let’s start by asking boomers themselves whether they think they are conservative. The General Social Survey from the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago has asked a nationally representative sample of Americans whether they consider themselves conservative, moderate, or liberal for nearly four decades. In the latest survey, taken in 2018, nearly one-third of all adults (32 percent) say they are conservative. Among baby-boomers (aged 54 to 72 in 2018), a larger 40 percent identify themselves as conservative. Among Gen Xers, the figure is 35 percent and among millennials 27 percent. Baby-boomers today are more conservative than the public as a whole. Were they always this way, or have they become more conservative with age? According to the General Social Survey, baby-boomers have become increasingly likely to identify themselves as conservative. When today’s boomers were aged 18 to 32 in 1978, a smaller 25 percent identified themselves as conservative—15 percentage points below the 2018 figure.

PERCENT OF BABY-BOOMERS WHO IDENTIFY THEMSELVES AS CONSERVATIVE OR LIBERAL, 1978 TO 2018

By the measure of self-identification, then, baby-boomers are more conservative than they used to be. This could be considered evidence that people grow more conservative with age. But an examination of how boomer attitudes have evolved on specific issues belies the notion that the generation is more conservative… Capital punishment: A growing share of boomers oppose capital punishment. Only 22 percent were against it in 1988 (when they were aged 24 to 42). In 2018, a larger 34 percent were opposed. Same-sex relationships: The share of boomers who think same-sex relations are “not wrong at all” climbed from just 18 percent in 1988 to 50 percent in 2018. Legalization of marijuana: The 62 percent majority of boomers now think marijuana should be legal, up from just 20 percent who felt this way in 1988. Abortion: 47 percent of boomers think a woman should be able to get an abortion if she wants one for any reason, up from 41 percent who felt this way in 1988. Role of government: The percentage of boomers who favor limiting the role of government is the same today (32 percent) as it was three decades ago. The percentage who think the poor should help themselves rather than have the government play a role (24 percent) is also unchanged. Have baby-boomers become more conservative with age? The answer depends on what the meaning of conservative is. Yes, boomers are more likely to think of themselves as conservative. But on issue after issue, their attitudes are often more liberal.

Year (Boomer age)

Conservative

Liberal

Percentage-point difference

2018 (54-72)

40%

26%

+14

2008 (44-62)

+15

1998 (34-52)

1988 (24-42)

1978 (18-32)

–13

Note: Conservative or liberal are all those who identify themselves as slightly to extremely conservative or liberal. Numbers do not add to 100 percent because those who identify themselves as moderate are not shown. Source: NORC, General Social Survey

AMERICANDEMOGRAPHICS I JULY / AUGUST 2020

Bye-bye Babies

What’s behind declining births as US fertility rate hits an all-time low? ow low can it go? The fertility rate in the United States fell to new record low in 2019. The number of births declined again. What was once thought to be a slump in childbearing due to the Great Recession has turned out to be much more than that. It may be a permanent shift in American family life. Demographers have been calling the decline in births a baby bust—similar to the one that ushered in Generation X in the late 1960s and early 1970s. But the Gen X baby bust lasted 11 years—from 1965 through 1976. The current bust is now 12 years old. Perhaps it’s more than a bust or a blip. Maybe this is the new normal. Only 3,746,000 babies were born in the US in 2019, according to the National Center for Health Statistics—570,000 fewer than in 2007 when births hit a record high of 4.3 million. Behind the diminished number of births is the falling fertility rate. The number of births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44 fell to a record low of 58.2 in 2019. This figure doesn’t mean much without context. Here’s the context: The fertility rate was as high as 118.0 in 1960—more than double what it is today. In 2007, when the number of births hit their peak, the fertility rate had already fallen to 69.5. The downward trajectory was well underway before the Great Recession. It’s more than a blip. It’s a trend.

lic Policy. If the age-specific fertility rates of 2007 had held through 2019, Johnson estimates, there would have been 6.6 million more births during those years. Rather than being in the midst of a baby bust, the United States appears to have shifted to a new pattern of family life characterized by later marriage and childbearing. According to an analysis by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, the fertility decline in the US has been a slow drift to levels seen in other developed countries. The decline is caused not by economic struggle but by structural shifts in society—such as women’s rising education and earnings. How low can it go? One way to get a sense of where we’re headed is to compare our “total fertility rate”—the number of births a woman will have in her lifetime—with the total fertility rate (TFR) of other developed countries. The TFR for American women fell to a record low of 1.7 in 2019, meaning the average woman in the US will have just 1.7 children in her lifetime. This is well below what demographer’s call the replacement rate of 2.1 children per woman. Where are we headed? In Germany the TFR is 1.57. In Japan it’s 1.42.

Number of births (in 000s) 2019: 3,746 2018: 3,792 2017: 3,856 2016: 3,946 2015: 3,978 2014: 3,988 2013: 3,932 2012: 3,953 2011: 3,954 2010: 3,999 2009: 4,131 2008: 4,248 2007: 4,316 (record high) Source: National Center for Health Statistics

Just how big the decline has been is revealed in an analysis by demographer Kenneth M. Johnson of the University of New Hampshire’s Carsey School of Pub-

AMERICANDEMOGRAPHICS.COM I JULY / AUGUST 2020

W E N E TH D L R O W K R O OF W Powerful trends are driving changes in the workplace

VID BY DA

ORGE

ith millions unemployed and working-at-home the new normal, it is not surprising that economists, businessmen, academicians, and government officials say that work, as we knew it, will never be the same. However, it would be a huge mistake to conclude that whatever comes next will be the result of the coronavirus crisis. The fact is that the forces of change were already underway before the pandemic hit. The world of work was starting to be transformed by a range of powerful trends, from generational shifts and growing employee diversity, to increased automation and new career progressions. These developments will continue and likely accelerate in the post-coronavirus era. They will be top of mind for strategic planners. The global coronavirus crisis, of course, will put its own imprint on the future of work. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s already driven discussions about changes in office space design, telecommuting, business travel, health benefits, and many other topics. The pandemic has created great uncertainty about the economy and businesses will need time to identify all the implications. The future of work will be a crucial topic for a wide range of stakeholders. Employees who are adaptable and comfortable with nontraditional corporate ladders will be most successful. Companies that support improved worker experiences and growing diversity and are open to considering job candidates with non-traditional educational backgrounds, will be best positioned for success.

AMERICANDEMOGRAPHICS.COM I JULY / AUGUST 2020

Here are five essential forces impacting this future. 1

Emerging Technology

McKinsey Global Institute research has found that “in about 60% of occupations, at least one-third of the constituent activities could be automated,” with artificial intelligence and robotics among the biggest drivers. The McKinsey research found that “automation could displace a significant share of work globally to 2030,” with 15 percent as the midpoint of its scenario range. It’s hard to imagine a career or type of role that won’t be disrupted by technology in some way. AI, for example, is already transforming a wide variety of activities, from manufacturing plants to offices. Virtual reality is starting to upend traditional training approaches. Advanced data analytics is accelerating the ability to predict business outcomes. Businesses need to prepare for humans and bots as the new blended workforce, according to a Forbes article by Jeanne Meister, a partner in the HR advisory and research firm Future Workplace. The piece said research among 8,370 global HR leaders, hiring managers and employees— conducted by Oracle and Future Workplace—found 50% of workers already use some form of AI. “Knowing how to orient, develop, engage, and work side by side with a bot will be the newest skill set for 2020,” she said. It’s understandable if older folks sense they’ve heard all this before. For a long time, experts have predicted technology will replace humans in workplaces. Many past forecasts were so dramatic they strained credibility. More recently, some predictions present a more nuanced view of how the march of automation will proceed. “At first, technologists issued dystopian alarms about the power of automation and artificial intelligence to destroy jobs,” according to a piece on this topic by Brookings Institution. “Then came a correction, with a wave of reassurances. Now, the discourse appears to be arriving at a more complicated understanding, suggesting that automation will bring neither apocalypse nor utopia, but instead both benefits and stress alike.”

AMERICANDEMOGRAPHICS I JULY / AUGUST 2020

Generational Shifts

Today’s workplace “mix of baby boomers, Gen X, millennials and now, Gen Z, creates a complicated dynamic of working styles and productivity drivers that are hard to ignore,” according to a blog post by Cile Montgomery, who focuses on customer experience for Dell Technologies Unified Workspace. The dynamics are so complex that some companies are tapping generational consultants to help sort it out and guide managers. Younger employees have the longest careers ahead of them, which means they have the biggest stakes in what the longer-term future will bring. This especially holds true for members of Gen Z, the digital natives whose oldest members are first entering the workforce. “Gen Z employees want to focus their skills at companies that provide the flexibility and freedom to be entrepreneurial through personalized roles,” Montgomery said in the blog. “What’s more, they see the tech industry as the sweet spot to pursue these career goals.” Meanwhile, millennials, the largest generation in the US labor force, are pushing even more than before for work-life balance, especially as many are now in the parenting life stage, according to career expert Ashley Stahl, writing in Forbes. “Companies need to put an emphasis on flexible work hours, remote positions and becoming more progressive with how they structure a typical workday,” she said. It’s not hard to imagine that millennials will be among the loudest voices pushing for a continuation of the remote working patterns of the pandemic period. Older generations—Gen X and baby boomers—are reaching the pinnacles of their careers, with many older boomers moving towards retirement. However, experts caution that older employees still have crucial roles to play in the future workforce, and companies will lose out if they don’t take advantage of it. “In addition to having more experience and institutional knowledge, older employees retain an incredible work ethic, often toiling longer and harder than younger employees,” according to a FastCompany article by Stephanie McCleskey, vice president of operations at ThinkWhy. Her conclusion is that organizations need to “assess the current status of age diversity in their workforces” and “consider taking concrete steps to implement age-diversifying policies.”

Growing Diversity

The drumbeat is getting louder for improved diversity and inclusion efforts in the workplace. Much of this is driven by basic demographics, with younger generations more likely to be members of minority groups. “The US population, and therefore the nation’s workforce, is becoming increasingly diverse,” according to a content piece from the workplace platform Bonusly. “In the 40 years between 1980 and 2020, the white working-age population will have declined from 83% of the nation’s total to 63% while the number of minority workers will have doubled.” The media recently has been filled with stories about diversity-related inequities in workplaces. “Revelations from the #MeToo movement, gender pay gap disclosure policies and repeated reports of entrenched diversity shortcomings at the top levels of business have highlighted the continued work to be done,” reported a piece from CNBC.com. Organizations are increasingly recognizing the business cases for why they need to take action to support employees across gender, ethnic, religious, and other lines. The benefits cited range from improved hiring and retention to gains in financial results. A comprehensive study by Boston Consulting Group found “companies that have more diverse management teams have 19% higher revenue due to innovation,” according to Forbes. More companies are putting in place tools to foster the success of diversity and inclusion efforts. One example is Mid-Atlantic supermarket retailer The Giant Co., whose president, Nicholas Bertram, outlined the organization’s strategies in a recent article in Drug Store News. Some of the recent initiatives include: • B usiness Resource Groups: The retailer runs affinity groups for staffers ranging from veterans to black and Latino associates. • P resident’s Inclusion Council: This council is a forum for employees to relay ideas. • I nclusion Index: Giant’s parent company Ahold Delhaize launched an index based on an annual engagement survey, which provides important feedback. • R everse Mentoring: Parts of the company’s global team participate in a reverse mentoring program that enables employees to help teach leaders.

Degrees vs. Skills

The longtime conventional wisdom has been that college and higher-level degrees are essential for careers. However, this doesn’t necessarily line up with the realities, as many employers now seek new skill sets and face challenges in finding appropriate candidates. Meister, writing in Forbes, advised businesses to “recruit for skills rather than college pedigree.” She explained, “Many companies realize they need to tap into new sources and relax some of the requirements they held in the past to find candidates for open positions.” Glassdoor, the online job and recruiting site, posted a blog piece that identified a range of companies no longer requiring a college degree for many positions. The list included Google, Penguin Random House, Costco, Hilton, Apple, IBM, and Bank of America, and EY in the UK. Quoted in the blog, Maggie Stilwell, Ernst and Young’s managing partner for talent, said, “Academic qualifications will still be taken into account and indeed remain an important consideration when assessing candidates as a whole, but will no longer act as a barrier to getting a foot in the door.”

New Career Progressions

Decades ago, it wasn’t unusual for people to spend their entire careers with a single employer, often gradually climbing the corporate ladder. That norm changed years ago, but today the confusion about what it takes to advance careers has only increased. “Career progression is no longer well-defined within companies, and career change is the new normal,” said business and life coach Caroline Castrillon, in another Forbes piece. Given the lack of clear lines for career progression, some experts are advising employees to become more proactive, including by taking risks, seeking out new opportunities, and building new types of skills. Meister points to newly important employee power skills for 2020 and beyond: “These include a combination of soft skills, thinking skills, and digital skills.” Soft skills cited include communication, collaboration, and cultural IQ, while thinking skills take in strategic thinking, systems thinking, and analytical thinking. “Taken together, these skills are the new expectation for employability in 2020 and beyond,” she said. In the midst of all these changes, employers will have a responsibility to clarify the rules for progress, according to some experts. “The challenge for organizations will be to provide employees—especially newer Generation Z who have grown up as highly-connected and social-media-savvy—with career paths that provide exciting opportunities for advancement,” said Allen Bernard, an expert on business and technology, writing in TechRepublic.

AMERICANDEMOGRAPHICS I JULY / AUGUST 2020

2020 and Beyond

The future of work will require new behaviors and perspectives from everyone who has a stake in these developments. This was true before the pandemic hit, and it remains true now. Employers, including HR departments, will need to become more proactive in communicating expectations, policies, and guidance. Employees will need continually to build and adapt skills and professional networks to propel their careers. Ultimately, forces such as shifting demographics and the advance of technology will further upend work and produce lasting changes. It won’t happen all at once, but the transformation is already well underway.

By Sara Williamson,1 PhD. NOT AT ALL

VERY MUCH

NOT AT ALL

VERY MUCH

NOT AT ALL

VERY MUCH

Statistical Snapshots

American News Habits: Sources we trust the most are the ones we use the least Americans have more choices than ever when it comes to learning about what goes on in the world around us. We asked 685 Americans to tell us about their news habits and the sources they prefer. Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what we learned.

How much time do they spend on news?

How interested are Americans in the news? 5.09

Asked indicate the methods they use for getting the news: % of total participants 86%

1 NOT AT ALL INTERESTED

7 VERY INTERESTED

115 minutes

On a seven-point scale, survey respondents

Time spent consuming news every day (on average)

scored themselves nearly six out of a possible seven for engagement with the news.

Asked how much they trust different news sources (mean score on a seven-point scale): PRINT NEWSPAPER

INTERNET NEWS SITES

4.05

NOT AT ALL

VERY MUCH

NOT AT ALL

VERY MUCH

NOT AT ALL

VERY MUCH

RADIO NEWSCASTS

CABLE NEWS CHANNELS

SOCIAL MEDIA SITES

3.53

3.75

NOT AT ALL

VERY MUCH

3.20

NOT AT ALL

VERY MUCH

NOT AT ALL

VERY MUCH

TALK RADIO STATIONS

WORD OF MOUTH

3.09

VERY MUCH

77%

word of mouth

60% television 25% radio 22%

newspapers or magazines

Does political ideology matter when it comes to trusting the news? Yes. We asked participants to indicate the extent to which they identified as politically conservative or liberal. When looking at those who indicated a strong leaning toward one of these political ideologies, we observed a big difference in their trust in the news. Participants who trust the news most also tended to lean more liberal

TV TALK & OPINION

2.87

NOT AT ALL

84% computers

If newspapers are so trustworthy, are they the most widely used? No. While newspapers received the highest trust score, it was also the least popular source for news among our participants getting the news.

MOBILE NEWS APPS

4.16

4.39

smart phones

2.75

NOT AT ALL

VERY MUCH

NOT AT ALL

VERY MUCH

Political leaning

Mean trust score

Conservative

2.5

Liberal

5.2

(1 = Not at all; 7 = very much)

Who was in our sample? It was 52% female. The average age was 34 years old and 35% have a college degree. Parent comprise 29.5% of the sample and 55% are married or in a committed relationship. Sixty-seven percent voted in the last election. AMERICANDEMOGRAPHICS.COM I JULY / AUGUST 2020

Connecting During a Crisis The “smartphone-mostly” crowd keeps growing f you think the stay-at-home orders of the coronavirus pandemic have been tedious, imagine enduring the isolation without the internet. Fortunately, almost everyone is online these days—a nearly universal 90 percent of adults in the United States, according to Pew Research Center’s tracking surveys. Pew is an old hand at this. It has been asking Americans about their use of technology since the mid-1990s, back when the term “Internet” was so new it required explanation. The New York Times first referred to the internet in 1988, and for years afterward the Times felt the need to explain the internet to its readers. “The linkage of computers known as the Internet,” the Times intoned as late as 1996.

Pew first asked about smartphone ownership in 2011. At the time, just 35 percent of adults owned a smartphone and a much larger 75 percent owned a desktop or laptop computer. Since then, ownership of desktops/laptops has stalled, while smartphone ownership has soared. Still, it took until 2019 before ownership of smartphones surged ahead of the big screens. Eightyone percent of adults owned a smartphone in 2019, including more than 90 percent of those under age 50. Desktop/laptop ownership was unchanged in 2019 at 74 percent, and 52 percent owned a tablet computer—a figure that has barely budged in years.

Maybe the Times still felt the need to explain the internet in 1996 because only 23 percent of the public was online, according to Pew. By 1998, 41 percent of adults were online, and nearly half of them (46 percent) had started using the internet in the past year. In 2000, more than half—52 percent—were online. By 2010, it was 76 percent. In 2019, the figure hit 90 percent. Even if you break the numbers down by age, just about everyone is online—100 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds, 97 percent of 30-to-49-year-olds, 88 percent of 50-to-64year-olds, and 73 percent of people aged 65 or older.

The smartphone is becoming the primary internet portal for a growing share of Americans. This is a critical shift for anyone who communicates online with customers, clients, or constituents. More than one-third (37 percent) of adults told Pew in 2019 that they access the internet mostly through their smartphone, a figure that has nearly doubled since 2013. Among 18-to-29year-olds, the clear majority (58 percent) go online mostly by smartphone, as do nearly half of 30-to-49year-olds. In every age group, the smartphone-mostly crowd is growing by leaps and bounds.

Despite near universal adoption of the internet, a digital divide still exists. The divide is not between those who use the internet and those who don’t, but how

“These trends are part of a broader shift toward mobile technology that has changed the way people do everything,” says Pew.

PERCENT WHO GO ONLINE MOSTLY ON THEIR SMARTPHONE

they get online. Some mostly use big screens (laptops/ desktops/tablets) and some mostly use small screens (smartphones).

2019

2013

Pct-point

TOTAL ADULTS

37%

19%

+18

Aged 18 to 29

+17

Aged 30 to 49

+23

Aged 50 to 64

+21

Aged 65-plus

+13

AMERICANDEMOGRAPHICS I JULY / AUGUST 2020

Source: Pew Research Center, Mobile Technology and Home Broadband 2019

on an around-the-world tour of street addresses. She tells the stories of the cities where street names and numbers were invented and perfected, and how that impacts its residents.

The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth and Power To demographers, it all starts with an address. Letters from the Census of 2020 state that they need our help providing information on everyone “living or staying at this address.” The street address is a critical data point for the Census. Knowing who lives where determines federal funding to local communities and representation in government. Still, the street address is only the starting point. The Census faces the challenge of counting those with multiple addresses, those with temporary addresses and those with no address at all. Take Native Americans, for example. According to an audit by the Census Bureau of the 2010, about 1 in 7 Native Americans living on a reservation, or 82,000 people, went uncounted. Some of those Native Americans live in extremely remote places without street addresses. For Native Americans in North Dakota, the lack of a street address has been at the center of the discussion about the upcoming Presidential election. New voter identification requirements in that state threatened to block those without a residential address from voting. In February, though, the state reached a settlement that relieves “certain burdens on the Tribes related to determining residential street addresses for their tribal members.” In The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth and Power, Deirdre Mask takes us

said the most common street names in America are numbered ones – Second, Third, First and Fourth (Second is more popular than First because First is often called Main Street or Front Street instead) – while other popular ones include Park, Oak, Pine and Maple. The author suggests that America’s gridded and numbered streets may have eased the adjustment of immigrants to the new world, who might have otherwise gotten easily lost. Still, one wonders how immigrants can navigate Queens, NY, at once one of the most ethnically diverse places in the world and one that’s exceedingly confusing from a street perspective, boasting such streets as 69th Street, 69th Place and 69th Lane.

One of the first stops in the book is to rural West Virginia. In 1991, the state embarked on a project to give street names to the thousands of roads outside of the state’s cities that didn’t have them – streets that have long befuddled UPS deliverymen and 911 operators alike. The author visits other places throughout time and history, relaying fascinating stories throughout. A section called “Development” examines how an NGO called Addressing the Unaddressed is working to assign street addresses to over 220,000 dwellings in Kolkata, India, an effort the organization believes will lift many out of poverty by giving them access to bank accounts, voting cards and electricity accounts. Another chapter looks at how street addresses can help to more efficiently map the spread of an epidemic in Haiti. Examining the origins of street addresses, Mask notes America’s considerable contributions. In particular, the author says that “numbered streets are a peculiarly American phenomenon.” The country’s penchant for numbered streets, as well as gridded street plans, hark back to the days of William Penn and his surveyor Thomas Holme in Philadelphia. Penn’s preference for numbering may have been due to his Quaker beliefs. He eschewed naming streets after people and instead picked numbers, crossed by “things that spontaneously grow in the country.” Indeed, the US Census has

The Address Book also tackles what street addresses may communicate with regard to race. In a chapter about Hollywood, Florida, one local citizen, Benjamin Israel, has fought to rename three streets bearing the names of Confederate generals that run through Hollywood’s black district. Hollywood’s founder had originally intended to name those streets after cities with strong black communities – Louisville, Macon and Savannah – but after a 1926 hurricane, the founder ran out of money and those names were “mysteriously changed.” The names were changed again in 2018 to Liberty Street, Freedom Street and Hope Street. In a chapter about St. Louis, Mask writes about a man named Melvin White, who grew up on St. Louis’ Dr. Martin Luther King Drive, which like some of the more than 900 MLK streets in the country, have become “a code name for a certain kind of urban, black decline.” To better honor King’s legacy, White started an organization called Beloved Streets of America, whose aim is to revitalize the streets bearing King’s name. Mask devotes another chapter, about Manhattan, to street names that symbolize class and status. “Street names were an early tool for gentrification,” says Mask. Living on certain streets in Manhattan convey wealth and power. She writes about New York’s vanity street address program, which allows builders to buy a “fashionable street name or a nice round number,” and then ask for higher rent.

AMERICANDEMOGRAPHICS.COM I JULY / AUGUST 2020

Month by Month at a Glance

AMERICAN DEMOGRAPHICS The Mystery of Algorithms Census Day and Counting

(May)

(April)

The New World of Work (July/August)

Who Are “The Influencers? (March)

The Demographics of Drinkers (September)

Let American Demographics be your umbrella against the uncertainties of tomorrow’s raindrops. Visit www.americandemographics.com and subscribe.

American Demographics July/August 2020

Articles inside

This Month’s Bookshelf New books and films are putting population trends into focus

The Doctor Will See You Now

Connecting During a Crisis