| Legislative Update Week of August 7, 2023  New Hampshire’s demographic winter freezing out families This Op-ed by Cornerstone Executive Director Shannon McGinley was originally published in the Union Leader on Feb. 15, 2023. New Hampshire should be the ideal place to work, have a family, and enjoy the benefits of generational proximity as children establish their own households in our beautiful state. That’s not what’s happening. The truth is that young people and their families are leaving our state in record numbers. Parents raising families here today know their children are likely to leave and never return. This isn’t just my opinion. The facts bear this out. We are now one of only three states in the country that is experiencing more deaths than births in every single county. Despite the alarm bells, we have continued in the wrong direction for some years. In their 2020 book, Communities & Consequences II, demographer Peter Francese and coauthor Lorraine Merrill note that New Hampshire is now second only to Maine in both our average age and the rate at which the state is aging. Just eleven years ago, as shared in their first documentary, Communities & Consequences, we were the sixth state, tied with Florida. New Hampshire also has rapidly declining public school enrollment. It boasts the dubious distinction of hemorrhaging the highest rate of graduating high school seniors in the country, most of whom permanently flee the state when they turn 18. And, in a further alarming sign when compared with the other 49 states, New Hampshire also saw the largest percentage decrease of children under 18 in the decade ending in 2020. That is a drop of 10.6%. Not only are New Hampshire children leaving the state, we are failing to attract others to move and stay here. It’s not about the availability of jobs. In 2022, our unemployment rate hit 2.1%, a rate not seen in 50 years. Companies are clamoring for workers. Why? After all, New Hampshire boasts a low-tax base, an enviable self-governance system at the local level, and good schools. But a deeper look reveals New Hampshire is also suffering a grave demographic crisis that has received far less attention than it deserves. As Ian Huyett pointed out in his recent article, New Hampshire’s rapidly aging population will spell disaster for our state and addressing this issue should be at the top of our priority list. The fact is that the majority of our aging New Hampshire communities are governed through the lens of viewing families and children as burdens, not as the fresh infusion of population and workers those communities so desperately need. As a result, older residents often see children as “not my problem,” and are opposed to supporting measures that would attract and keep younger generations. Does it really make sense to require that all homes in a town be built on expensive acre lots, to fail to invest in schooling, or to refuse to consider child tax credits? Certainly, not in the long run. But the costs for families like ours go far beyond economics or worker shortages. Demographic winter means our children are being frozen out of the state. We have proudly raised our family here and love New Hampshire and so do our five sons, but the chances of them settling here to raise their own families and our grandchildren are slim to none. It’s not difficult to understand why. As our older sons embark on their careers with my younger sons soon to follow, New Hampshire is not part of the discussion. Opportunities and the future lie elsewhere. Our children aren’t coming back. And the exodus is generational. I have watched more than one friend leave the state to be close to their children and grandchildren. It’s not that they wanted to leave. To choose family, they felt compelled to pack up and leave the state they love. It shouldn’t be that way. And it doesn’t have to be. If we can all acknowledge, whatever our age may be, that New Hampshire needs to attract and keep families and their children, better policy will follow. Then, instead of leaving to invest in other states’ economies and communities, our children and their extended families will stay right here in our beautiful state, so New Hampshire and her people can thrive for generations to come. |
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