States with the highest share of immigrants working in hospitals
Why it matters: It's a pivotal moment for the nation's hospitals.
The health care industry is facing a double challenge — a White House immigration crackdown that could translate to worker shortages, and the "big, beautiful bill," which pulls back federal health care spending.
Meanwhile, an aging population will require more care.
By the numbers: Nationwide, 16% of hospital workers are immigrants — roughly in the line with the share of the workforce that's foreign-born.
More populous states have higher numbers — 32% in California; 29% in New York and New Jersey, and 27% in Florida.
Zoom in: There are already shortages of doctors in certain areas and within certain specialities, as well as an overall workforce shortage. Reducing the number of immigrants in the U.S. could make that worse.
And it's not just physicians. Immigrants account for a high share of the cleaning and maintenance staff in hospitals — close to 30%.
"If there aren't enough workers, hospitals may need to limit services," says Scott Hulver, a policy analyst at KFF.
State of play: Hospitals are one of the big losers from the new spending bill, taking a major hit from Medicaid cuts and changes to the Affordable Care Act, report Axios' Peter Sullivan and Victoria Knight. Millions are likely to lose their health insurance.
The bottom line: Since the passage of the ACA in 2010, more people have had access to health care and the industry exploded, hiring surged and more workers were in demand.
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The Hill
6 hours ago
- The Hill
‘Rage Against the Regime' protests planned across US: What to know
SAN ANGELO, Texas (KLST/NEXSTAR) – Critics of the President Trump's immigration and economic agenda will be 'raging against the regime' this weekend during protests in cities nationwide. Saturday's 'Rage Against the Regime' protests, organized by volunteers of the 50501 movement, are being held in response to what the group describes as a number of 'threats' to democracy and human rights. Organizers are focusing in on the current administration's 'weaponization of ICE against our communities, construction of concentration camps, covering up of the Epstein Files, attacks on transgender rights, and its dismantling of Medicaid, SNAP, USAID, the Department of Education, NOAA, and the National Weather Service,' among other issues, according to a 50501 press release. Nearly 350 'Rage Against the Regime' protests are scheduled for Saturday, according to a website operated by 50501. More than 100 additional protests and demonstrations are also scheduled to take place Saturday. The day of the rallies also happens to fall on the birthday of Vice President Vance, though 50501 spokesperson Hunter Dunn, in a statement to USA Today, said the coinciding dates were merely that — a coincidence. The 50501 movement, which is an abbreviation of the phrase '50 protests, 50 states, 1 movement,' had previously partnered to organize the 'Hands Off' and 'No Kings' protests earlier this year. The group has also promoted several other rallies of 'days of action' since Trump took office. As they have during previous protests, 50501 urges non-violence during demonstrations and rallies. A guide provided to activists and organizers also calls for designated volunteers to help with conflict resolution and safety at the events. In San Angelo, Texas, Saturday's protests were given a different name out of a desire to emphasize its peaceful intent. 'This event is being called RISE Against the Regime rather than 'Rage,' … This is intentional due to our goal to have a peaceful display of opposition to what the current administration has been doing to our nation and our community,' a representative for West Texas Indivisible, the group organizing the protest, said. 'We hope to encourage others to connect with us in an effort to build a supportive community, promote civic engagement, and work together to make the change we want to see,' the representative said, adding that those wishing to bring signs should refrain from using explicit language or imagery. The 'Rage Against the Regime' moniker of Saturday's protests, meanwhile, is a reference to the Los Angeles rock band Rage Against the Machine. Dunn even quoted a song from the band in a press release ahead of Saturday's events. A representative for 50501 was not immediately available to comment. Trump, meanwhile, has brushed off questions about 50501's efforts in the past, saying ahead of the 'No Kings' demonstrations in June that he wouldn't liken himself to a monarch. 'I don't feel like a king; I have to go through hell to get stuff approved,' he told reporters.
Newsweek
7 hours ago
- Newsweek
Real Reason Behind Birth Rate Decline
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Countries all over the world are facing declining birth rates, sparking fears there will one day be more elderly people than working-age people to support them. For example, in the United States, the fertility rate (the average number of children a woman has in her lifetime) is now projected to average 1.6 births per woman over the next three decades, according to the Congressional Budget Office's latest forecast released this year. That is below the replacement rate of 2.1 births per woman required to maintain a stable population without immigration. Financial struggles are often cited as the reason for people having fewer or no children, but recent research has focused on cultural changes. Newsweek has pulled together the main reasons birth rates are declining to build a detailed picture of the issue many governments are trying to tackle. The Real Reason Behind The Birth Rate Decline The Real Reason Behind The Birth Rate Decline Newsweek Illustration/Canva/Getty Financial Worries The 2008 financial crisis and its impact on housing, inflation and pay is generally cited a major contributor to people's decisions to delay having children, to have fewer children or not to have them at all. In June, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) found that 39 percent of the 14,000 people across the 14 countries it surveyed said financial limitations prevented them from having their desired family size. "Young people overwhelmingly report worries and uncertainty about their futures. Many expect to experience worse outcomes than their parents did," the report said. "Their concerns about climate change, economic instability and rising global conflicts will be reflected in the choices they make about raising families." U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has taken steps to try to tackle the concerns, including the White House exploring giving women a "baby bonus" of $5,000, according to an April report in The New York Times. The country could also make childbirth free for privately insured families, with the bipartisan Supporting Healthy Moms and Babies Act, which would designate maternity care as an essential health benefit under the Affordable Care Act, which was introduced in the Senate in May. Family Policies Policies around child care and parental leave come up just as often as financial struggles—and the two are often connected. "Countries that have sustained or moderately increased birth rates—like France or the Nordic nations—have done so by investing in affordable child care, paid parental leave, gender-equal workplaces and housing support," said Poonam Muttreja, executive director of the Population Foundation of India. "These create an enabling environment where people feel secure in having children," she told Newsweek. "Fertility decisions are shaped by long-term confidence, not one-off cash handouts." Similarly, Theodore Cosco, a research fellow at The Oxford Institute of Population Ageing, told Newsweek that "addressing declining birth rates would require comprehensive support mechanisms, such as affordable child care, paid parental leave, health care access and economic stability." Gender Inequality Another linked aspect to this is gender inequality—a cause often stressed by Muttreja. While speaking about the situation in India, where the fertility rate is 1.9, according to World Bank data, she called gender inequality a "critical challenge." "No country has become economically advanced without a substantial participation from women in the economy," she previously told Newsweek. "The burden of caregiving, whether for children or elderly family members, falls disproportionately on women, and policies must enable women to balance work and caregiving effectively." Tomas Sobotka, deputy director of the Vienna Institute of Demography, told Newsweek: "Recent research emphasizes that fertility tends to be higher where gender equality is stronger, and where institutional support helps reduce the cost and complexity of raising children." He cited France and Sweden as examples. While their fertility rates have still plummeted in the past decade (1.66 and 1.45, respectively, according to World Bank data), they are higher than the European Union (1.38). This is "partly thanks to generous family policies with affordable child care, well-paid parental leaves and generous financial benefits to families," he said. "These, together with high levels of gender equality, make it easier especially for the better educated women and couples to achieve the number of children they planned." Cultural Shifts Another major, albeit more difficult to measure, contributor is a shift in cultural values. A new study conducted by academics affiliated with the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) published last month found that "short-term changes in income or prices cannot explain the widespread decline" in fertility but rather there has been a "broad reordering of adult priorities with parenthood occupying a diminished role." Authors Melissa Schettini Kearney, an economist from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, and Phillip B. Levine, an economist from Wellesley College in Massachusetts, found there have been "changes in how much value people place on different life choices, generally reflecting a greater emphasis on personal fulfillment and career." These include the fact that most women in high-income countries now work, while it was previously "reasonable to consider having children as a widespread priority for women." But they do not attribute this to "whether women work at all after they are married or have had their first child" but rather "the tension between a lifetime career and the way motherhood interrupts or alters that lifetime career progression." Kearney and Levine also spoke about changes in preferences in general, citing several surveys they reviewed that showed that more people say having a career they enjoy and close friends is extremely or very important than those who say the same about having children. They also mentioned changes in parenting expectations, with it becoming "more resource- and time-intensive" than before, a reduction in marriages, access to effective contraception, abortion policies, fertility and infertility treatments. These reasons became clear when Newsweek looked at Norway, which is considered a global leader in parental leave and child care policies, with the United Nations International Children's Fund (UNICEF) ranking it among the top countries for family-friendly policies. Norway offers parents 12 months of shared paid leave for birth and an additional year each afterward. It also made kindergarten (similar to a U.S. day care) a statutory right for all children age 1 or older in 2008. Yet, Norway's fertility rate has dropped drastically from 1.98 in 2009 to 1.44 in 2024, according to official figures. The rate for 2023 (1.40) was the lowest recorded fertility rate in the country. Newsweek spoke with several local experts about Norway and all cited recent cultural changes, including lower rates of couple formation for those in their 20s, young adults being more likely to live alone and the demands of modern parenting. What Is The Solution? "The short answer is that there are no easy fixes," Kearney and Levine said in their report. "There is no single policy lever that will reliably boost fertility." Kearney and Levine's main call to action is to "widen our lens" when discussing fertility. "There is still so much more we need to know before we can provide something resembling a definitive answer," they said. "Policies like parental leave, child care subsidies, baby bonuses, etc., are much easier to implement and have the potential to affect fertility more rapidly, if they were effective," Levine told Newsweek. "Changing the social conditions that encourage family formation is more difficult and takes longer to accomplish.
Axios
8 hours ago
- Axios
Voting Rights Act's 60th anniversary comes amid uncertainty
Barriers that the Voting Rights Act of 1965 aimed to eliminate have reappeared in modern forms as the country marks its 60th anniversary. The big picture: A backlash to the 2020 racial reckoning has made it almost impossible for any bipartisan effort to renew the Voting Rights Act — even though the country is more racially and ethnically diverse than ever. The big picture: President Trump continues to push baseless claims about voter fraud while pressuring states like Texas to redraw congressional district boundaries with little consideration to historic racial discrimination. In March, Trump signed an executive order to tighten voting restrictions — including calls for proof of citizenship to vote. The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE), a Republican-led bill that would codify those requirements into law, passed the House in April but stalled in the Senate. Meanwhile, GOP-leaning states also have passed bills in recent years that critics argue impose new restrictions on Black and Indigenous voters. The latest: Earlier this week, Sen. Raphael Warnock reintroduced the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, backed by Senate leaders and civil rights groups. The bill would restore federal oversight of voting changes in states with histories of discrimination — and ban voter roll purges for missed elections. Multiple groups promoted its introduction to Congress, but it's unlikely to pass either of the GOP-controlled chambers. What they're saying:"We're going to continue to fight for that bill, even though it's an uphill climb — particularly because of the Senate filibuster," National Urban League president Marc Morial told Axios. Morial says every Republican president since its passage has signed every extension, but now it's a partisan issue fueled by far-right movements. "This is a modern-day power grab." The other side: Some Republicans contend that the voting changes are "common sense" reforms to require ID and prevent noncitizens from voting — which is exceptionally rare and illegal. U.S. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) told Axios earlier this year that voting rights groups' concerns about such changes were "absurd armchair speculation." Yes, but: Older Black Americans, especially in the South, are being disproportionately targeted by new documentation requirements, Color Of Change PAC national director Jamarr Brown told Axios. That's because rural, poor areas like the "Black Belt" of Alabama and Mississippi lack the infrastructure to get voters the required documents in a timely and easy fashion. Arizona and Montana have passed new laws barring ballot collection important to Native American voters living in isolated regions, since they lack reliable mail service. "This isn't about proof of citizenship. This is about eliminating people from the electorate… to get a desired political outcome," Brown said. Between the lines: Since taking office, Trump has attempted to reverse many of the gains made during the Civil Rights Movement and unravel the late President Lyndon B. Johnson's civil rights legacy from six decades ago. The clawback on voting rights comes as the Trump administration also pulls back on civil rights enforcement and focuses on " anti-white racism" rather than discrimination against people of color. The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday released new guidelines for recipients of federal funding and directed them not to be involved in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion ("DEI") programs. Flashback: Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act on Aug. 6, 1965, after the attack on unarmed peaceful demonstrators in Selma, Ala. Johnson had encouraged the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to march for voting rights to sway the public. Stunning stat: Since the passage of the Voting Rights Act, the number of Black Americans elected in the U.S. has shot up from just a few in 1964 to about 9,000. Most Black Americans are aligned with the Democratic Party, but Black and Latino Republicans have won high-profile races in Kentucky, Texas, New Mexico and California. The bottom line: Voter suppression efforts now target Latinos, Asian Americans, and young voters, alongside Black communities.
