8th June - RC 1

Passage 3
For years, U.S. employers have counted on a steady flow of labor from
Mexico willing to accept low-skilled, low paying jobs. These workers,
many of whom leave economically depressed villages in the Mexican
interior, are often more than willing to work for wages well below
both the U.S. minimum wage and the poverty line. However, thanks to a
dramatic demographic shift currently taking place in Mexico, the
seemingly inexhaustible supply of workers migrating from Mexico to the
United States might one day greatly diminish if not cease.

Predictions of such a drastic decrease in the number of Mexican
immigrants, both legal and illegal, are driven by Mexico's rapidly
diminishing population growth. As a result of a decades-long family
planning campaign, most Mexicans are having far fewer children than
was the norm a generation ago. The campaign, organized around the
slogan that "the small family lives better," saw the Mexican
government establish family-planning clinics and offer free
contraception. For nearly three decades, the government's message
concerning population hasn't wavered. In fact, the Mexican Senate
recently voted to extend public school sex education programs to
kindergarten.

The result of Mexico's efforts to stem population growth is nothing
short of stunning. In 1968, the average Mexican woman had just fewer
than seven children; today, the figure is slightly more than two. For
two primary reasons, Mexico's new demographics could greatly impact
the
number of Mexicans seeking work in the U.S. First, smaller families by
their nature limit the pool of potential migrants. Second, the slowing
of Mexico's population growth has fostered hope that Mexico will
develop a healthy middle class of people content to make their
livelihoods in their home country.

Though the former of these factors is all but assured, the growth of a
healthy middle class is far from a foregone conclusion. The critical
challenge for Mexico is what it does with the next 20 years. Mexico
must invest in education, job training, and infrastructure, as well as
a
social-security system to protect its aging population. If Mexico is
willing to step forward and meet this challenge, America may one day
wake up to find that, like cheap gasoline, cheap Mexican labor has
become a thing of the past.

1. The passage does NOT indicate which of the following concerning
Mexico's current demographics?

a) Due to the government's family planning campaign, Mexico's
population is currently diminishing.

b) On average, Mexican women are having approximately one-third the
number of children that they had in 1968.

c) Many Mexicans still migrate to the United States in search of work.

d) As a result of declining birth rates, Mexico's population is aging.

e) A healthy middle class in Mexico has not yet fully developed.


2. Which of the following can be inferred about U.S. employers of
Mexican immigrants?

a) Most of these employers pay Mexican immigrants less money than
they pay American citizens.

b) Some of these employers violate wage laws.

c) Many of these employers work in the agricultural industry.

d) Without Mexican immigrants, some of these employers would be forced
to close their businesses.

e) The majority of these employers show no concern for the welfare of
their workers.


3. With which of the following statements would the author of the
passage MOST likely agree?

a) The United States will soon have to replace lost Mexican labor with
labor provided by other immigrant groups.

b) It is difficult for a country with a large population to develop a
healthy middle class.

c) Many Mexican immigrants who work in the United States believe that
they are taken advantage of by American employers.

d) Most rapidly growing countries should institute a family planning
campaign to limit population growth.

e) Mexico does not currently have the infrastructure to develop a
healthy middle class.


4. One function of the final paragraph of the passage is to
a) relate why the number of Mexican immigrants seeking work in the
United States is certain to decline.

b) detail the successes of Mexico's family planning campaign.

c) explain why the number of Mexican immigrants seeking work in the
United States may not dramatically decrease.

d) specify the types of infrastructure in which Mexico must invest.

e) notify American employers that they will soon need to find
alternative sources of labor.