Population Economics

The U.S. has been (barely) maintaining its population, with a higher rate of reproduction than Canada or Western Europe. But, why? Here's a theory that's new to me:

... an important new study by economists Moshe Hazan and Hosny Zoabi has found that the real reason for larger families is the unusually large supply of low-cost babysitters and child-care workers in the U.S. – mainly due to immigration, much of it “illegal,” from Latin America.

I'm not sure why the "illegal" is in quotes. Are those scare quotes? Or just "we don't know any other way to say this" quotes? It's from a Canadian paper, so maybe they're just trying to be polite.

Opt for low-skilled immigration
to build our population!