Baby Boomers of Color: Implications for Social Work Policy and Practice

THERE ARE NUMEROUS WAYS TO determine the extent to which a society is “advanced”: such as the longevity of its citizens and/or the quality of life and respect they are shown in older adulthood (Cook & Hatzell, 2012; Ghilarducci, 2008). While medical achievements have greatly improved the former, the latter is still highly variable. It has been argued that quality of life for baby boomers is dependent upon three factors: adequate income (Hudson, 2010), quality health care (King et al., 2013; Olson, 2013; Powel, 2013), and affordable housing (Cook & Hatsall, 2012; Gonyea, 2005; Villa, Wallace, & Huynh-Hohnbaum, 2005–2006). The challenges of providing each of these to the baby boomer cohort (and particularly to boomers of color) will be discussed throughout this book.

Concerns about how to serve a rapidly growing older population have been building over the past several decades—long before the start of the recent recession (Lynch, 2010). Almost thirty years ago, Longman (1985) published an article titled “Justice Between Generations: Unless a Number of Trends Are Soon Reversed, the Baby Boomers Are Headed for a Disastrous Retirement.” Satcher (1996) also emphasized that the needs of older adults, particularly baby boomers of color, would require careful planning and that ignoring this cohort would be dangerous for the nation’s financial stability and well-being. The recession that began in 2008 has magnified concerns over the feared financial drain that wil be caused by baby boomers.

Baby boomers are entering old age at a particularly precarious political and economic time in the nation’s history (Hudson, 2009a; Pruchno & Smyer, 2007). There is general agreement about the seismic changes that will occur when boomers retire, and the vast majority of them are negative (Schieber, 2012; Strack, Baier, & Fahlander, 2008). Nolan (2009) predicts that boomer retirement will result in an entitlement crisis (the depletion of Social Security and Medicare), a fear echoed by many others who worry that boomers will stress our health care and Social Security systems in a way that we have never before had to contend with (Ohlemacher, 2011; Reuteman, 2010). These fears have been exacerbated by the recession, which forced many boomers to turn to Social Security earlier than anticipated because of long-term unemployment and financial crises (Johnson and Wilson, 2010a, b). “The oldest of the 78 million Americans born during the post-World War II baby boom generation are turning 65 this year, while the share of the population older than 85 is growing even faster. The flood of elderly Americans is putting severe financial stress on programs that benefit older citizens” (Greenblatt 2011, p. 577)

Nolan (2009) and others also predict a workforce crisis. “Along with overburdened retirement plans and overcrowded early-bird buffet bars comes yet one more worry as the flood of Baby Boomer retirements begins. The overwhelming majority of American businesses are not prepared to deal with the coming loss of so many experienced workers” (Belsky, 2012). This anticipated mass exodus of baby boomers from employment will be noted particularly at the top tiers of the workforce (Alba, 2009) and in specialized occupations: it is estimated, for example, that half the nation’s air traffic controllers reached the mandatory retirement age of fifty-six in 2011 (Goldsmith, 2008). Similarly, Richardson (2011) projects severe shortages of nurses due to baby boomer retirement.

Concerns over the health needs of an aging boomer population are another area of trepidation; there is great concern over whether our health care system, particularly Medicare, will be adequate to meet the mental and physical health needs of older adults. Some critics charge that the discussion of medical issues reduces the totality of boomers and other older adults to their medical status (Estes, Biggs, & Phillipson, 2003).

This chapter will introduce the baby boomer generation and examine why boomers are poised to wield such a significant impact.

THE SIZE OF THE BOOMER GENERATION

The sheer magnitude of the estimated 81.5 million boomers in the United States makes them a population to reckon with—as well as the most closely watched, studied, and marketed-to generation in history (Croker, 2007; Jacobsen et al., 2011; Keeter, 2008). The baby boom generation increased the overall population of the United States by 44 percent in a short period of eighteen years (Goldsmith, 2008). The boomer generation is 50 percent bigger than the “silent” generation that preceded it. Baby boomers are the largest generation in the history of the country, thus worthy of considerable national attention (Frey, 2010; Gillon, 2004; Goldsmth, 2008). As an economic engine, boomers are unmatched: they have generated an estimated $3.7 trillion in earnings, as compared to $1.6 trillion for the silent generation at the same age (Beinhocker, Farrell, & Greenberg, 2008).

“We are often accused of being a self-centered, narcissistic ‘me’ generation. But the truth is we are important because there are just so many of us. It is the phenomenon often metaphorically referred to as ‘the pig in the python,’ as this gigantic ‘bulge’ in the population moves from one stage of life to another. It is because of our numbers that we have overwhelmed every institution along the way” (Croker, 2007, p. xii). This is a generation that stressed maternity wards when they were born, filled classrooms in schools and universities to capacity, and competed like few previous generations for jobs and housing, for example (Light, 1988).

Other countries are also grappling with the issues raised by aging populations; Boomer International estimates that there are 450 million baby boomers worldwide. But this book will largely focus on the American boomer population and its impact on American policies and programs.

THE BIRTH OF THE BOOMERS

A brief historical overview of how and why the baby boomer generation developed will help us better understand current circumstances and challenges. Developing a historical interpretation of a social phenomenon is always challenging; to paraphrase Voltaire, “history is the lie that we can all agree on.” Nevertheless, there is value in seeking the origins of the term baby boomer and following its evolution over time.

The birth of the boomer generation was arguably the result of the interplay of several significant social forces (Greenblatt, 2007). First, the Great Depression acted as a disincentive to childrearing due to the severe economic hardships suffered by so many adults, creating a pent up demand for children that could only be realized when improved economic circumstances created a degree of certainty and hope. World War II followed and served as another hindrance to the national birth rate by causing social uncertainty and taking many men away to battle. Birthrates finally accelerated dramatically through the 1950s as a result of an expanding economy and optimism about the future. The gross national product more than doubled during this period, from $227 billion in 1940 to $488 billion in 1960. This newfound economic prosperity resulted in increased educational attainment (thanks to programs such as the G.I. Bill, which encouraged college attendance among those of poor and working-class backgrounds), increased household income, and increased home ownership rates (thanks in part to V.A. loan guarantees). All these forces combined to create a climate conducive for raising a family, and led to an unprecedented birth upsurge in the country. Incidentally, comparable forces were also at work in other nations.

It is important to pause and point out that these governmental benefits afforded ex-veterans were not accessed or enjoyed by ex-veterans of color, resulting in significant racial inequalities due to racism impacting their economic and human capital (Alschuler & Blumin, 2009; Herbold, 1994–1995; Onkst, 1998). An intersectionality perspective on boomers of color highlights persistent lifetime low wealth status, which translates into compromised health, low formal educational attainment, and the social ills associated with residential segregation (T. Brown, 2012; Robinson, 2010–2011).

Their inability to obtain housing guaranteed loans, and their lack of access to housing outside of their ethnic and racial neighborhoods due to discriminatory practices, severely limited their accumulation of wealth (Boustan & Shertzer, 2011; Murray, 2008; von Hoffman, 2011). Woods’s article, titled “ALMOST ‘NO NEGRO VETERAN … COULD GET A LOAN’: AFRICAN AMERICANS, THE GI BILL, AND THE NAACP CAMPAIGN AGAINST RESIDENTIAL SEGREGATION, 1917–1960” (Woods 2013) does an excellent job of chronicling how this discrimination unfolded regarding African Americans and the gallant efforts to counteract this racism.

Although eligible for these loans, banks refused to give them (Littrell et al., 2013). Racial discrimination even occurred in situations where the ex-veteran clearly had the financial resources to move into White surburbs (Monholtan, 2010). This, in turn, prevented the parents of boomers of color from acquiring equity in their homes, which could be tapped for equity loans, retirement, and inheritance for their children (Valls & Kaplan, 2007).

Not accessing the educational benefits of the G.I. Bill, in turn, too, severely limited ex-veterans of color from entering careers that were well paying, with appropriate benefits, and physically less taxing (Mencke, 2010; Rosales, 2011). The long-term wealth and health consequences are addressed in chapters 5 and 6. Their ability to transfer wealth to their children, and today’s boomers of color, has placed them at a distinct disadvantage when compared to their white, non-Latino counterparts. Racially segregated and unequal schools are a direct consequence of segregated housing patterns (Bonastia, 2010).

There are numerous other interpretations of the forces that led to the boomer generation. One perspective emphasizes the importance of rising male incomes and falling female incomes as a result of female job displacement when men returned from the war, relegating women to traditional roles as mothers and housewives (Macunovich, 2000).

The origin of the term baby boomers is open to debate (Doyle, 2005). Thompson (2008) traces it back to the middle to late 1940s: “The news media quickly noticed a sharp rise in childbirths that began in 1946, after Germany and Japan succumbed. Time and Newsweek magazines both ran baby boom features in 1948, although not in-depth ones. Time treated the story as a short business item, noting that ‘2.8 million more consumers’ were added to the population, and quoted the National Industrial Conference Board: ‘The significance to businessmen can hardly be overestimated.’” (Internationally boomers have other names; in Britain they are referred to as The Bulge and in Canada they are called Boomies.)

It is important to situate the boomer generation within the context of those before and after. Bernstein (2010) observes that this is the first time in American history that five generations are in the labor market: (1) the World War II generation born between 1925 and 1945; (2) the baby boomer generation (1945–1964); (3) Generation X, born between 1965 and 1980; (4) Generation Y, sometimes referred to as Millennials, born between 1981 and 2000; and (5) Generation 2000 (post 2000).

Not surprisingly, the 1980s and early to mid 1990s witnessed a proliferation of publications on the topic of baby boomers in the United States. America started to look at this generation in a different light, both with admiration as well as from an alarmist perspective. Two publications stand out during this period due to their significance for how they helped to spur national awareness about baby boomers, bringing together a statistical and cultural picture of this generation.

Landon Jones’s Great Expectations: America and the Baby Boomer Generation (1980) played a pivotal role in bringing baby boomers to national attention in the early 1980s. Jones is widely credited with popularizing the phrase baby boomer, drawing attention to how this generation played a significant national role in the shaping of fashion, politics, education, lifestyles, and business styles and behaviors. Jones also addressed the influential forces of the Great Depression and World War II setting the stage for the birth of this generation, which was discussed earlier. Light’s Baby Boomers in Retirement: An Early Perspective (1993) provided a detailed statistical examination of baby boomer’s financial well-being upon retirement and raised serious questions about how well this generation would do upon retirement. This Congressional Budget Office statistical portrait represented what many would argue is the first, and most comprehensive, economic analysis of boomers.

Hudson and Gonyea (2012) contend that boomers entering older adulthood will represent a conceptually distinct cohort from that of their parents and grandparents, entering a new political landscape and “fracturing” their singular political image and power, compromising their ability to shape old-age related agendas.

ALL BOOMERS ARE NOT ALIKE

Jones (1980) chronicles the way in which baby boomers became the first cohort specifically labeled and targeted by Madison Avenue and its role in popularizing this term. Treating an entire generation as a monolithic entity is a dual-edged sword. On one hand, it serves to help create a collective identity that facilitates sociological and political analyses of a group of individuals sharing a significant demographic variable. Conversely, the use of a singular label blurs important between-and-within group distinctions. Variations within the boomer generation are greater than the variations between generations, making broad generalizations difficult, if not dangerous, to make (Cote & Allahar, 2007). There may be an extreme difference, for example, between a boomer who served in the Vietnam War and one who protested America’s military engagement there. Other significant differences can arise related (but not limited) to age, gender, sexual identity, socioeconomic status, race, and ethnicity. Some of these factors will be briefly explored here.

Age

There are dramatic differences between boomers born in 1946 and those born in 1964. To distinguish between them, terms such as younger boomers, leading edge boomers, first cohort, or trailing edge boomers are often used to describe those from forty-five to fifty years of age, whereas second cohort and older boomers are used to describe those from fifty-one to sixty-four (MetLife Mature Market Institute, 2010). Developmentally, these two groups of boomers are at distinctly different phases in the life cycle, and to combine them does a disservice to them and their families. Faith Popcorn, as quoted in Croker (2007, p. 13), questions the wisdom of grouping a population cohort that spans an eighteen-year period: “How can there be a group that’s forty and sixty? How can there be a group that’s having babies and getting married and the other size of it is going through menopause and trying to retire? That’s impossible.”

Race and Ethnicity

For all the discussion of the boomer cohort in general, little if any attention has been paid to the racial and ethnic subgroups within it: “although it’s hard to believe that 11 percent of this most heralded generation could have slipped by without much analysis, the nation’s 9 million black baby boomers have managed to do just that” (Wellner, 2001, p. 1). When we describe boomers in colorful terms such as silver tsunami, silver century, or gray warriors, we tend to focus on the “graying” rather than the “browning” of this population (O’Neill, 2009; Roberts, 2008).

There is a desperate need to include race and ethnicity when examining the boomer cohort (Campbell, 2005). Making the invisible visible is a critical first step in ensuring that socially just treatment is given to baby boomers of color. It is ironic to realize that, although baby boomers in general have been prized by marketers and advertisers in recognition of their tremendous financial clout (Street, 2009), baby boomers of color have remained invisible from a marketing perspective and from economic, social, and political perspectives as well (Stanford, Yee, & Rivas, 2009; Wallace & Villa, 2009).

Baby boomers of color face two concurrent challenges: (1) they have been subsumed under the general dialogue on baby boomers and thus become invisible and, (2) the few times that they are specifically addressed, they are often viewed as an added burden because of their unique cultural and linguistic needs (Treas & Carreon, 2010).

Sexual Orientation

Unfortunately, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender boomers are largely invisible in the gerontological literature even though they represent at least ten percent of this population group (Knochel, Quam, & Croghan, 2011). Social support among lesbian and gay boomers (Baker, Herdt, & de Vries, 2006; Gabrielson, 2011; Neustifter, 2008) takes on even greater importance when they are thrust into social situations where their sexuality is frowned upon by the dominant group (Neville & Henrickson, 2010).