There seems to be a growing interest in the complicated subject of worker shortage and population growth from immigrants. More attention, it appears, judging from news stories and commentaries, is being given to it.Thursday, The Wall Street Journal had a front page story under the headline of “Immigrants Propel Population Growth in 10 Percent of U.S. Counties.” The story said about one in 10 U.S. counties grew in the fiscal year that ended last June primarily because of immigration — a significant increase from 2011.It’s common knowledge that the U.S. birthrate is down, our population has aged, and our industries and other businesses need workers who are skilled and others who can be trained. If you examine the help wanted ads in newspapers and online, workers are needed in a wide variety of fields of work.The Journal said population growth that comes from immigration has risen steadily since the start of this decade, “when the fallout from the financial crisis prompted many people to delay having children. That fact has lasted longer than expected.”The share of population growth attributable to immigration hit 48 percent for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2018, up from 35 percent in fiscal 2011.The Journal said the result is a country that is becoming increasingly dependent on immigrants to fill jobs and fund programs such as Social Security and Medicare.Immigrants will take jobs that some Americans don’t want, for whatever reason, because “they are hungry” for work and an opportunity to have a better life. Talk to employers who have hired immigrants and they will tell you they are hard workers.Too many of our representatives in Washington, D.C., apparently don’t understand, or don’t care, that we need an immigration policy that allows a reasonable number of immigrants to come into this country along with a rather speedy process that would qualify them for citizenship.