Congress and the Year 2000

Demographic change continually reshapes the nation's political agenda, creating advocacy groups for new legislation and altering the consequences of existing laws. This Note charts the demographic environment within which future congresses will function and the concerns that are likely to materialize: (1) families' capacities to meet the needs of dependents will become increasingly narrow; (2) a growing proportion of all workers will be at their potentially most productive; (3) as young workers become scarce, entry-level labor markets will tighten further; (4) the schedules of American workers will grow more diverse as various alternatives to the standard 40-hour, five-day work week emerge; (5) by the year 2000, proportionally more Americans will be members of a minority group; (6) Americans will live longer than ever before and elderly people will become far more numerous; (7) the aging of the population will affect the lives of everyone; and (8) at regional and local levels, rapid changes in population size will exacerbate infrastructure and human capital concerns.