美国的老龄化越来越严重，家庭人口也越来越少，这意味着未来美国的成年劳力会越来越少。
By 2030, twenty percent of U.S. residents will be 66 years of age or older. That compares to 13 percent in 2010, and just under 10 percent in 1970.
到2030年，有20%的美国居民将会年满66岁。相比之下，2010年只有13%，而1970年不到10%。
The aging population could be a concern if Americans expect to have an expanding population, says David Kelly. He is with the investment company J.P. Morgan Asset Management.
大卫·凯利表示，如果美国希望人口不断增长，人口老龄化可能会成为隐忧。凯利就职于摩根资产管理公司。
"If you're investing in things like the housing industry or the auto industry and you need an ever-growing population, then you have to adjust to a world in which the U.S. population is growing more slowly," he said.
他说：“如果你投资房地产或汽车等需要人口不断增长的行业，那你得适应美国人口增长变慢的社会现状。”
Different studies show that an aging population cuts into economic growth, and older workers who stay on the job are often less productive than younger ones.
各种研究表明，人口老龄化将会减缓经济增长，而且老龄员工的工作效率通常要比年轻人低。
But as Americans are aging, last year the birth rate nationwide dropped to its lowest level in 32 years. Less than 3.8 million babies were born in 2018, which is two percent less than the year before. Taken as a whole, the population grew only six-tenths of one percent in 2018, compared to 1.2 percent growth in the 1990s.
但是随着美国人口老龄化，去年美国的出生率降到了32年以来的最低水平。2018年出生的婴儿人数不足380万，比上一年减少了2%。总地来说，2018年美国人口增长率仅为0.6%，而上世纪90年代的增长率为1.2%。
Kelly said the low birth rate is not necessarily bad news. Looking beyond economics, a growing world population could do more damage to Earth's environment. He said that U.S. policy makers should plan for dealing with a smaller workforce.
凯利表示，低出生率并不一定就是坏消息。着眼于经济以外，人口不断增长可能会给地球环境造成更大的破坏。他说美国的政策制定者应该谋划应对劳动力减少。
"We really should adapt to a world of slow population growth because it's clearly happening to us," he said.
他说：“我们确实应该适应一个人口增长缓慢的世界，因为它显然已经发生在我们身上。”
What will replace human workers? Like others, Kelly expects the lack of workers to fuel the growth of robotics and artificial intelligence. He said that Americans need to prepare for the U.S. economic growth to slow a little in the future.
取代人类劳动力的将会是什么？跟其他人一样，凯利希望劳动力缺乏推动机器人技术和人工智能的发展。他说，美国人必须为美国经济增长未来略微放缓做足准备。
Another way to fix the shrinking workforce is to add more legal immigrants. Immigrants usually arrive in the United States when they are of working age.
解决劳动力萎缩的另一种办法是增加更多的合法移民。移民通常会在就业年龄来到美国。
But this is not an easy solution, because the U.S. Congress and President Donald Trump continue to disagree over how to deal with immigration issues.
但是这也很棘手，因为美国国会跟川普总统在如何处理移民问题上仍然意见不一。
The U.S. economy can easily make changes to deal with the slower population growth, Kelly said. But he worries that politics could get in the way of solutions.
凯利表示，美国经济很容易做出改变，以应对人口增长放缓，但他担心政治因素会阻碍解决。
"The real question is a political question," he notes, "because it seems even as our population matures in years, it seems that our political system gets less mature in terms of thought process."
他指出：“这本质上是一个政治问题，因为看上去即使未来几年我们的人口发展成熟，我们的政治体系在思维过程方面还不够成熟。”
I'm Anne Ball.
我是安妮·鲍尔。(51VOA.COM原创翻译，禁止转载，违者必究！)