Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is Part-Right on Unemployment

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Multiple Job Holders

3. “The” Unemployment Rate

4. Working Overtime

5. Additional Factors in Employment

Content

1. Introduction

     On July 13^th, 2018, U.S. House Democratic primary winner Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) appeared on PBS's program Firing Line, to discuss her campaign with host Margaret Hoover.

     Ocasio-Cortez, a former Bernie Sanders campaign staffer who has been described as a democratic socialist, was criticized for her response to Hoover's question about unemployment. The following is a transcript of that exchange:

            Margaret Hoover:

     In your campaign. It was always about working-class Americans. You talk about the top versus the bottom, not the left versus the right.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez:

     Right.

MH:
     Now, the economy is going pretty strong, right? There's roughly four percent unemployment, 3.9% unemployment... um... Do you think that capitalism has failed to deliver for working-class Americans, or is [it] no longer the best vehicle for working-class Americans?

AOC:
     Well, I- I think the numbers that you just talked about is part of the problem, right? Because we look at these figures, and we say, “Oh, unemployment is low, everything is fine”, right? Well, unemployment is low because everyone has two jobs. Unemployment is low because people are working sixty, seventy, eighty hours a week, and can barely feed their kids. And so, I do think that we have this no-holds-barred, Wild West hyper-capitalism. What that means is profit at any cost. Capitalism has not always existed in the world, and it will not always exist in the world. When this country started, we were not a capitalist- we did not operate on a capitalist economy.

     Ocasio-Cortez's comments were quickly criticized by numerous figures in conservative media, including Tomi Lahren and Dan Bongino on Fox. On July 17^th, former Republican congressman turned conservative radio host Joe Walsh tweeted “@Ocasio2018 is proof that just because you have a degree in Economics doesn't mean you actually understand economics.”

     Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez graduated from the College of Arts and Sciences of Boston University in 2011, with a bachelor's degree in economics and international relations. Her critics have also pointed out their reasons for suspecting she is as unqualified to speak about international relations as they feel she is about economics, specifically her position on what she called “the occupation of Palestine”.

     Although many news outlets and fact-checking sites were determined to prove her wrong, she did have a point. While her comments on unemployment were not technically correct in the strictest and most literal sense, the way she articulated her position on why unemployment is low is, at the very least, understandable and on the right track.

     That's because, as Harvard economics professor Gabriel Chodorow-Reich says – as quoted in “Ocasio-Cortez Wrong on Cause of Low Unemployment”, written by Corey Berman and Robert Farley, published on FactCheck.org on July 18^th, 2018 - “if she meant 'The unemployment rate is low[,] but that doesn't mean the economy is at its potential[,] because many people don't have a solid job and instead are forced to work two jobs to make ends meet', you could find economists willing to agree or disagree with the statement.”

     I suspect that that's exactly what she meant.

2. Multiple Job Holders

     Ocasio-Cortez's critics say that one reason she is wrong about unemployment, is that the percent of workers who have multiple jobs is near an all-time low.

     That is true; however, that low was achieved in 2013, in the middle of the Obama presidency, and thus, could arguably be attributed to Democratic policies. But on the other hand, that rate increased from 2013 to 2016, and decreased from 2016 to 2017. This rate has ranged between 4.8% to 5% since 2010, and ranged between 5-6% during the previous 25 years before that.

     Ocasio-Cortez never claimed that the number of people working two jobs was at an all-time high. Although it was hyperbole for her to use the word “everyone” to describe who has two jobs, it would be incorrect to say that she claimed that the multiple job holders rate is higher than it has ever been. While she arguably may have appeared to imply that, she did not directly say it.

     Despite the fact that that figure is actually near its all-time low, many people, nevertheless, still do have two or three jobs. George W. Bush said this is possible “only in America”, but it's also only necessary in America.

     One job ought to be enough for people to make ends meet. But a minimum-wage job is not enough to support a small family in a two-bedroom apartment in any state in the nation. And that statistic is not made-up; it's the people who say the minimum wage doesn't support a one-bedroom who are wrong.

     The reason Ocasio-Cortez was not technically correct about the cause of low unemployment rates, is that employed people getting second and third jobs, does not, by itself, increase, nor in any way affect, the unemployment rate.

     But that's because the figure we're talking about is the “proportion of employed persons with more than one job”; that is, the number of total workers, divided by the number of workers with multiple jobs. That statistic is not based on the relationship between the number of multiple job holders and the number of unemployed people.

     That's why the unemployment rate does not change when a job goes to a person who is already employed, instead of someone who is non-employed, who arguably needs the work more badly than the already employed person.

     Focusing on the multiple job rate instead of unemployment, blinds us to the fact that unemployment can stay about the same, even while the number of jobs rises, which is largely attributable to people getting a second job, and having both jobs' hours fall to 25 to 30 hours a week each.

     The last thing I want to do is to pit unemployed people against employed people who are struggling to balance two jobs. But the truth is that people who take-on a second job are “taking jobs” from unemployed people who actually need those jobs.

     This is a struggle related to the ease of obtaining employment, yet changes in the number of people with two or more jobs does not affect the unemployment rate the way it is currently measured. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rightfully drew attention to that fact, when she said “ I think the numbers that you just talked about is part of the problem”. The way we measure unemployment does not in any way give us a clear picture of the general woes the people are experiencing as it pertains to obtaining employment opportunities.

3. “The” Unemployment Rate

     As Margaret Hoover noted that the unemployment has been hovering between 3.8% and 4.1% lately, Ocasio-Cortez's detractors have noted that as well. Some conservative commentators have described this as an all-time low, and some have even credited President Trump for this supposed achievement.

     The idea that the U.S. is currently experiencing all-time low unemployment rates is false. Around the year 1970, the unemployment rate hovered around 3.5%, which is lower than it is now. Since the unemployment rate's history began in 1948, the lowest unemployment rate ever measured was 2.5%, in 1953.

     Additionally, the decline in unemployment numbers began long before Trump took office, near the beginning of the Obama administration.

     Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was correct when she implied that the decline in the unemployment rate has to do with the way they're measuring it.

     You see, when people say "the unemployment rate", that's a misnomer, because there really is no single way that the U.S. government measures unemployment. But what is almost always meant by "the unemployment rate" is the so-called "official unemployment rate"; a measurement called "U3". According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the "Current U3 Unemployment Rate" is defined as the total number of unemployed people, as a percent of the civilian labor force.

     The Bureau of Labor Statistics measures unemployment in a variety of ways; known as U1, U2, U3, U4, U5, and U6. There have been conflicts between presidents, the Congressional Budget Office, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about how to measure unemployment, and these different ways of measuring unemployment reflect some of those differences of opinion.

     The Bureau of Labor Statistics defines U6 as “Total unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force”.

     Using U3 instead of U6 is basically a way to “fudge the numbers” on unemployment, resulting in a lower “official” unemployment rate than the “real unemployment" rate (U6). And U6, itself, represents a number of workers that's about half as much as the total number of people who are out of the work force and could potentially be employed (we might call this the "real real unemployment rate").

     The U3 unemployment rate excludes a lot of people who aren't technically “unemployed” in the sense that they have filed for, and collect, unemployment benefits from the government, and are currently searching for work, and have not yet become discouraged enough to stop looking. Such people are “non-employed”, but they are not “unemployed”. People who are between jobs, and think they'll find a job soon, and never file for unemployment, fall in this class, and so do college students who do not work due to having support from their parents.

     The U3 excludes not only non-employed people, but 1) underemployed people; 2) structurally unemployed people (whose industries or professions are uncertain or struggling due to long-term changes in the economy); 3) seasonally unemployed people; and 4) “non-attached workers” who work on-and-off, and also couch surfers who lack a permanent residence, some of whom might work in the gig economy; as well as homeless people who cannot file for unemployment benefits because they have no permanent residence.

     The U6 unemployment rate is about 90% higher than the U3 unemployment rate. If you factor-in everyone I mentioned in the last two paragraphs, then the real unemployment rate might be four times higher than the stated unemployment rate of 3.8% - that is, 15-16% - if not more than that. In fact, to prove that Donald Trump is wrong that unemployment is low, I'm going to cite one of his harshest critics, Donald Trump. In an August 2015 interview for Time Magazine, Trump told Pete Schroeder that he doubted the official unemployment rate, saying “our real unemployment rate is 42 percent” because “ninety-three million” people “aren't working”.

     In summary, we're measuring unemployment the wrong way, and the official unemployment rate (U3) is not the best way to measure the general economic woes of the country as it pertains to obtaining quality employment. Again, that's because U3 includes neither the non-employed, the structurally unemployed, the seasonally unemployed, non-attached workers, the underemployed, nor the homeless.

4. Working Overtime

     Ocasio-Cortez's critics also took issue with her claims that “people are working sixty, seventy, eighty hours a week”. Again, at no point did she claim that the number of people who work long hours is at or near an all-time high. Whether her critics have alleged she said that or not, her critics are not wrong to point out that the average number of hours worked per week is near its all-time low.

     That is correct; however, the Obama presidency saw an overall rise in the average number of weekly hours worked. Under Obama, that number did not quite rise to the numbers seen under Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. For the past twenty years, the average number of hours worked, has ranged between 34.25 and 34.5 hours, with a brief but significant dip to 34 hours in 2009.

     Average weekly hours worked is near its all-time low, but nevertheless, it is true that many people still do work sixty hours per week or more. I work as a private security guard, and I do know people who work such long hours like that. The fact that historically few people work long hours, should not distract from the fact that there are many individual human beings who are working long hours; just like the fact that historically few people work multiple jobs, should not distract from the fact that there are many individuals who are working multiple jobs.

     It is certainly a good thing that many people work less than forty hours a week, and the facts show that a 34-hour week is not only possible but the norm. Weekly hours worked could be much lower, especially if we utilize technology to its full potential and allow automation to flourish. Nearly 250 years ago, Benjamin Franklin predicted that a 20-hour work week would soon be possible, and Franklin D. Roosevelt declined to sign a bill that would have established a 30-hour work week about 85 years ago.

     Another thing to consider is that low average weekly hours worked, might not even be desirable, especially if it is caused by policies that incentivize people to work fewer hours than they want to. Examples of these policies include: 1) laws limiting the number of consecutive days which may be worked (which can negatively impact farm laborers); and 2) Obamacare's exemption of “part-time workers” (defined as people who work less than 30 hours a week), a policy which arguably gave employers an incentive to cut employees' hours in order to avoid being legally required to provide them with health insurance.

5. Additional Factors in Employment

     Here are some additional factors which indicate the general prospects of the American people as it pertains to obtaining employment, which do not directly relate to unemployment, but which affect non-employment nevertheless.

     First, fewer people on unemployment benefits might simply mean that people have stopped looking for work, and have declined to file for unemployment benefits.

     Second, lower unemployment numbers could also mean that more people have given up trying to become self-employed, given up trying to start their own businesses, and given up trying to make money through investments. In general, that they given up looking for other ways to get by without selling their labor to an employer (which arguably indicates desperation to find a job; desperation to prostitute themselves to potential employers by giving up rights to organize on the job, rights to full pay, etc.).

     Third, even if it were true that the economy is fine, and that the low unemployment rate reflects that, then more people having jobs is still not necessarily a good thing. Remember, a lot of the jobs people are getting, are jobs in industries that were given multi-trillion dollar bailouts just a decade ago. The jobs might be in industries which are being favored and privileged and bailed-out by the Trump Administration.

     The jobs might be in industries which are destroying our environment for profit. Maybe some of those jobs aren't all they're cracked up to be. The employees at the job in question might be overworked. The employees might be working multiple jobs, or might hope for full hours or raises, so that they can avoid taking on a second job. The workplaces might have safety and health hazards. Not every job is respectable; not every job saves lives; and not every job and industry should be subsidized, protected, and bailed-out by taxpayers.

     Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is not “mad because people have jobs”, nor mad because low unemployment numbers are accurate and prove her wrong. She is “mad” (read: heartbroken) because when someone who already has a job takes a job that somebody else needs, it doesn't change the unemployment rate. Similarly, when someone who needs Food Stamps loses them because the government throws them off, it's counted as a success, as though they stopped needing Food Stamps and got off the S.N.A.P. program voluntarily. And that affects people's ability to feed themselves and their children.

     There are many people, who struggle to feed their families, whether they are working or not, and whether they are on government assistance or not. Some people are on government assistance even though they have jobs; not always because they're lazy and greedy, but often because their job doesn't pay them what they need to subsist. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is in the spotlight now because the electorate is ready to hear from a candidate who considers these issues to be serious problems, even if these problems are not as bad as they have ever been.

President Donald J. Trump,

explaining why unemployment and the economy are doing just fine

Sources

http://www.pbs.org/video/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-barhhq/

http://www.factcheck.org/2018/07/ocasio-cortez-wrong-on-cause-of-low-unemployment/

http://slate.com/business/2018/07/alexandria-ocasio-cortezs-gaffe-about-the-unemployment-rate-and-working-two-jobs-is-no-big-deal.html

http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2015/08/20/donald_trump_says_the_real_unemployment_rate_is_42_it_s_not.html

http://ritholtz.com/2012/10/u3-versus-u6/

Visit the Following Links to Read My Previous Articles on Unemployment

http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2010/12/taxes-and-unemployment.html

http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2012/02/inflation-adjusted-minimum-wage-vs.html

http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2013/12/inflation-adjusted-minimum-wage-vs.html

http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2018/02/reflection-upon-use-of-forced-labor.html

Written on July 4^th, 20^th, 26^th, and 27^th, and August 1^st through 4^th, and 6^th, 2018

Originally Published on August 6th, 2018

Table of Contents and Aquarian Agrarian Links Added on August 8th, 2018

Millennial Political Hub

The following is a description for the Facebook group "Millennial Political Hub."

Written by Joe Kopsick and Trevor Tidwell in May and August 2014.

By Joe Kopsick:

     A page for a big-tent, multi-partisan coalition for a new American republic and a new social contract.

     The Millennial Political Hub (formerly the United Freedom Alliance) is a coalition that caters to the voice of the people.

     We know that the people of the world, of the United States, and especially the Millennial generation (the generation born between approximately 1982 and 2000) want to think and work together peacefully to solve some of the biggest challenges facing the world over the next several decades.

     The American Dream is in shambles. The Baby Boomer generation will not only out-earn the Millennial generation; they will also live longer than Millennials. Generational debt has resulted from our government's financial mismanagement. Homelessness, hunger, poverty, and economic disparity still plague the world, and in America the authorities brutally crack down on the poor, and brutally crack down on everyone else for unbelievably minor non-violent offenses. Life-threatening but preventable chronic diseases are on the rise. By 2025, the North Atlantic will be almost completely devoid of marine life, and by 2030, carbon dioxide emission trends will reach the crucial turning point.

     Our governmental institutions and processes – even our fundamental notions of what justice and the rule of law are - are in disarray. The stark divide between political camps which was evident during the Culture Wars of the 1990s has given way to increasing factionalism and sectionalism, which threaten to eventually tear apart not only the two major parties but the fabric of society as a whole.

     Simply put, the world has a lot of problems, and each person or faction in it has its own views about what justice is, and what standards people ought to be held to.

     That's why Millennial Political Hub invites you to join our group, chat with administrators, discuss in our threads, meet fellow members, and vote in our polls. Seek your own justice, wisdom, and freedom, through peaceful discourse and polite discussion. We do this in order to encourage free thought and speech, facilitate cooperation and brainstorming.

     Our desire is to build a broad coalition that would support a platform based on what we aim to create: a working model for a personalizable, customizable form of government (or style, or institutional framework for, governance) that can be all things to all people. A style of - or institutional framework for – governance, that can hold people to their own professed moral principles and behavioral standards, not to the principles dictated by some elite claiming to represent them.

     We believe that the people of the Millennial Generation – and of the Millennial Political Hub – are up to the challenge of improving government and solving war, hunger, pollution, poverty, unemployment, collapsing public infrastructure, education, disease, and so on. Millennials are well-educated, globally aware, culturally and ethnically diverse, and politically conscious, yet relatively untainted by partisan politics.

     The Millennials are not content to become a silent, ignored, mistrusted generation. The Baby Boomers seem certain that we are going to save them, but they don't seem willing to accept any of our terms. Our generation may volunteer in record numbers, but we don't always work for free.

     We demand little more than the tools to do our jobs: our fair share of opportunity, a peaceful and free society, a safe workplace, a truly social safety net that extends beyond the scope of government welfare programs, and a basic guaranteed standard of living to provide a level playing field.

We want more reasonable licensing requirements and more widely accessible job training. We want it to be easier to volunteer and to work, and we want those labors to be more effective and more profitable. Likewise, we want our government to spend our money more wisely and more efficiently.

     The Millennial Generation cannot take its place in history as a proud and accomplished generation unless and until the political, societal, and economic values systems of the Baby Boomers are no longer imposed on us. We know that society cannot survive when groups and individuals impose foreign values systems, customs, and traditions upon one another, not without dire consequences.

     Millennial Political Hub urges its members to read The Fourth Turning: What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America's Next Rendezvous with Destiny by William Strauss and Neil Howe. Strauss and Howe teach us that generations and history shape and influence one another, and postulate that generational societal change occurs in cycles.

     Millennial Political Hub hopes to find ways for our generation to get along with the dying members of the G.I. and Silent generations, and the Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers. We also want to ensure that the next generation does not fall victim to the same war, nationalism, and depression that afflicted the Silent and Progressive generations.

     Collectively, we stand for:

     - Subsidiarity and localism: increase governmental efficiency and efficacy through the decentralization and diffusion of decision-making and enforcement power down to the lowest possible level without compromising competence.

     - Household choice of legal community and location (for single-person households and family households alike).

     - Self-determination of households and consensual legal communities (whether or not the lands that such communities are contiguous and connected).

     - Egalitarianism and isocracy

     - Civic republicanism; an emphasis on written law

     - That a social contract should be written, signed, sealed, delivered, and acknowledged by all parties involved, just like any normal contract conferring mutual obligation and surety.

     - That breaking a social contract, or changing its rules without sufficient cause and/or notice, should merit ostracism, and compulsory exile and self-dependence; rather than forced submission or violent retribution (unless democide or mass mayhem is risked by not initiating violence in the face of an imminent threat).

     - That consensus- and coalition- based democracy are preferable to majoritarian democracy (even based on a majority of those who participate) because majoritarianism is insufficiently supportive of - and insufficiently deferential to - individual rights, cultural differences, the self-determination of legal communities, competitive provision of justice, and non-cooperative pacts and truces providing for non-aggression.

     - Separation of powers in dispute resolution: eliminate corruption in jury selection; promote full information of juries; reinstate common-law grand juries; ensure that no dispute resolution or arbitration agency has the authority to license any other (s), nor to compel any person or agency to always and exclusively come to it for dispute resolution; and ensure that police witnesses, prosecutors, and judges (who all represent the state) and court-appointed public defenders cannot collude to keep jurors and the accused ill-informed of their rights.

     To learn more about the inspiration for this group - and about the history of Western political philosophy - the original three authors of the group recommend viewing the following 12-part video series, a course that was filmed at Harvard that covers Locke, Nozick, Rawls, Aristotle, and others:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBdfcR-8hEY

By Trevor Tidwell:

     The Millennial Political Hub is a place for Millennials to gather, discuss, brainstorm to create mutually agreeable solutions across partisan and ideological lines, and form a big-tent, multi-partisan coalition for a new republic and social contract, that all may have justice and freedom for themselves, rather than having values and ideals imposed on them.

     We invite you to join our group, chat with administrators and other members, vote in polls, and participate in peaceful discourse and polite discussion. We encourage free thought and speech, and want to facilitate cooperation and brainstorming.

     As Millennials, we are not content to become a silent, ignored, lazy, and mistrusted generation. Our Boomer parents and grandparents once seemed certain that we were going to save them, and with the proper guidance and negotiation, we will rise to the occasion. Gen-Xers have distrusted us, but we will build bridges of mutual respect, appreciation, and teamwork. We will end the conflict between generations, so we can face our challenges together.

     We believe that Millennials, together with Xers and Boomers, are up to the challenge of improving government, solving war, ending hunger, cleaning up pollution, eradicating poverty, ending unemployment, renewing collapsing public infrastructure, improving education, curing disease, and meeting all the challenges we face with all brightness of hope that we can overcome them. We are well-educated, globally aware, culturally and ethnically diverse, and politically conscious, and reject partisan politics.

     We want our markets, corporations, and businesses to have a conscience and be socially responsible, as well as productive and profitable. We want education to be freely accessible and affordable for all people. We want fully integrated lives, where our jobs and work do not take us from our families or prevent us from enjoying the fruits and rest of a productive society. We want strong, healthy, and happy children, families, and marriages. We want our homes, neighborhoods and communities to be safe, friendly, clean, well connected, and open. We want our government to be efficient, responsible, and responsive, and our taxes invested and dispensed wisely. We want an end to debt-slavery and wage slavery and the building of true wealth for the benefit of all people. We want peace and freedom.

Request to join now!

http://www.facebook.com/groups/692220487515678/

The Impact of Globalization on Highwood, Illinois

     Although one may not expect a city of only 5,000 residents located on the North shore of Chicago to show much evidence of international influence, the history of Highwood, Illinois has a rich multicultural heritage that is reflected in its mix of foreign-born and immigrant-descended residents and their restaurants, grocery stores, and other businesses which have put Highwood's economic success level on par with that of the mostly white and Jewish communities around it.

     In 2000, the population of Highwood was 4,143. It is located in southeastern Lake County, 28 miles north of downtown Chicago. The City of Highwood is connected to all cities on the shore of Lake Michigan from Kenosha, Wisconsin to Chicago by the Metra / Union Pacific North Line. It is bordered by Lake Forest to the northwest, Fort Sheridan to the northeast, and Highland Park to the south.

     Highwood was founded in the 1880s by Swedish settlers. Phone service in Highwood began in the 1930s, and cars became available in the 1940s, though they were difficult to afford during the war.

     Today, 38.6% of Highwood residents are foreign-born and 38.2% are Hispanics of any race. Italian immigration to the city began in the early years of the 1900s decade, peaked during World War II, decreased dramatically in the late 1940s, and rose again in the 1960s. Highwood has been importing pasta, olive oil, cookies, candy, and panatone from Italy since before the 1930s. The city hosts the annual Highwood Days in August, which began as an Italian cultural celebration in the 1980s.

     The economic blending between Highwood and the affluent, predominantly Jewish neighborhood of Highland Park has become more apparent since World War II through the 1960s, when Highwood experienced a business renaissance as several dozen taverns were replaces by better buildings occupied by restaurants. Since then, Highwood has seen an increase in white residents and property values. Over the last five to seven years, several antique stores and art galleries have opened.

     In the mid-1950s, Highwood's numerous Italian-owned landscaping companies, of which today there are at least five, began hiring Mexican immigrants. The influx of Mexican immigrants to Highwood has spread to Highland Park and Lake Forest. There is also a significant Mexican population in North Chicago, ten miles north of Highwood.

     Most Highwood residents work within the city, although train service to Kenosha and Chicago is readily available as it goes straight through the center of the town, which is less than one square mile in area. In the 1930s, many people living in Highwood worked as housekeepers and gardeners for residents of Lake Forest, Highland Park, and Lake Bluff. Today the most common occupations are landscaping, carpentry, stone masonry, electrician work, food service, plumbing, and family businesses such as auto body shops.

Today, downtown Highwood has many Mexican- and Italian-owned grocery stores and restaurants. There are two Mexican-owned grocery stores, called “mini-supers,” including one that cooks food to order. There are currently three Italian-owned grocery stores - one of which is a butcher shop that has been in business for 35 years – another is a bakery, and two of them make food to order or to go.

     There are three or four Mexican-owned restaurants, which mostly employ Mexican cooks, busboys, and wait staff. There are at least nine Italian-owned restaurants, some of which employ Mexican cooks and busboys. The wait staff, hosts, and bartenders at restaurants and bars in Highwood are mostly Italian or white.

     The Walgreen's store in Highwood offers specialty items that most other Walgreen's would not have, such as Mexican candy, pastries made by Mexico-based company Bimbo, and El Milagro tortilla chips. Walgreen's was built after Highwood's main pharmacy and convenience store, Laegler's Pharmacy, closed after about a hundred years of operation. The owner, William Laegler, became a pharmacist at Walgreen's. In Laegler's place is an upscale Italian-owned restaurant called Miramar.

     Gabe Viti, the owner of Miramar – and Froggy's, which serves French cuisine – opened a Mexican restaurant called Pancho Viti, but it was unsuccessful and closed after several years. There is also a Chinese restaurant and a Greek restaurant called Yianni's Opa, which closed last year after about ten years of operation.

     North Shore Estates is a 200,000 square-foot, 252-unit apartment property comprised of three four-story midrise apartment buildings located on the northern edge of Highwood's business district. It houses several hundred, perhaps a thousand residents. Since the early 1980s, the building has been known to be overcrowded and there are numerous health and safety concerns. What to do about the building has been a topic of concern in City Hall for the past few years. The building may be sold, but citizens have voiced their concern for the health of the residents as this would displace about 20% of Highwood's work force.

Another apartment complex north of North Shore Estates along Sheridan Road is the nearby Hotel Moraine, which has closed and is planned to be torn down and replaced by a condominium with retail space on the bottom floor, although logistical and population-density issues slow its development.

     Across Sheridan Road from northern Highwood is the south end of the U.S. Army base Fort Sheridan. Fort Sheridan and Highwood belong to North Shore School District 112, which today includes Oak Terrace Elementary and Indian Trail School, which teach kindergarten through fifth grade, and Elm Place Middle School, which teaches sixth through eighth grade. Students attend high school in neighboring Highland Park. St. James Catholic School, which teaches kindergarten through eighth grade, has been open for at least 75 years. It has been developed since its construction, adding new classrooms and converting old classrooms into rental spaces for events.

     After about a hundred years of operation, Oak Terrace School was rebuilt as Oak Terrace Elementary in 1999 and 2000 and has since become a dual language magnet school, owing to the increase in Mexican immigration to Highwood. Fifty-two point one percent of Highwood residents over 5 years old speak a language other than English at home. For each grade, the school offers one English-only class and one or several dual Spanish and English classes. As the grades advance, Spanish and English use in the classroom is blended. Kindergarten dual Spanish and English classes begin with Spanish immersion.

     Recently, there has been an increase in the number of white students enrolled at Oak Terrace Elementary, the dual-language elementary school, as non-Spanish-speaking residents have become aware and have realized the need for their children to be aware of the Spanish language. Some residents believe that Oak Terrace's emphasis on dual language skills causes the content to be covered less in-depth. Sherwood School in Highland Park also offers dual language classes. Residents are free to choose which of Highwood's elementary schools their children attend.

     In a study of Highwood, Illinois, one can find evidence of influence from Mexico, China, and most of Western Europe including Italy, France, and Sweden. It has been active in trade with Italy for at least 75 years. Residents celebrate their Italian heritage on an annual basis, and Hispanic heritage is reflected in one of its educational institutions, each contributing to the prevalence of multilingual people in the area. Highwood's status as a diverse immigrant neighborhood has shaped its distinct identity among cities on the North Shore for over one hundred years.

Written in February 2008 for a course on geography,

Edited in July 2014