Yo,
I hope everyone had a good week. I was going to title this one “Rescue Efforts Taking a Deep Dive to Find the Submarine That Took a Deep Dive to look at the Titanic that took a Deep Dive in 1912” and talk about the lost OceanGate submersible.
But I’m sure everyone has already heard enough about that and it’s grim ending.
Instead, I ran across this picture showing the 750 refugees that are also in need of rescue.
No, that’s not a Carnival Cruise Ship.
Are we going to talk about refugees? Nope, but we will talk about immigration as a whole.
And as a general note: don’t mess with the ocean …. or unapproved water vessels.
Everyone has heard of the Baby Boomers. The people who can be attributed to the massive population growth directly following the Second World War. As well as their kids, Generation X, who serve as an extension of the peaceful times, nuclear family, economic growth, and make up 25% of the working population.
But believe it or not, the US population growth rate has been on a decline ever since that peak. And there’s no signs of it stopping.
This data is actually true globally, with the most significant decreases in population being in India and China (likely due to the “One Baby Rule” and population capacity).
Now, you may be thinking this is good. It’ll be better for the climate, could combat some of the food shortages, and all the other good stuff. And you’d be right.
But where things start to get hairy is in economics and industry, and we all know that the money drives everything else. Baby Boomers and Gen X make up a large majority of the working population. And there isn’t enough of the rest of us to fill their shoes, which means we could be in some trouble.
A lot of global economic models rely on growth (businesses get bigger, need more people so on and so forth), and technology can only compensate for so much manpower.
Long story short, the largest population in the working class that drives entire global economies is about to retire, leaving us at a huge labor deficit.
Unless I’m missing something there are really only two solutions: have more kids or start recruiting people from elsewhere to prop up your own economy (aka immigration).
Having more kids is an obvious answer, but the only flaw is they couldn’t enter the workforce for another 20 or so years – potentially solving a today problem, tomorrow. Considered by some to be too little, too late.
Immigration is already a controversial subject everywhere, so when you see suggestions to increase immigration your first thought is likely “oh boy, here we go”. I’ll admit, this is where I usually tune out.
But after giving it more thought, the solution makes sense. By increasing immigration, you are essentially recruiting people who are “work-ready” to replace those Baby Boomers and Gen Xers who are departing.
Of course, illegal immigration is a whole other topic, and this would apply to legal immigration but in general immigration could be a viable option to fill that deficit I made mention to earlier.
But I’m sure everyone has already heard enough about that and it’s grim ending.
Instead, I ran across this picture showing the 750 refugees that are also in need of rescue.
No, that’s not a Carnival Cruise Ship.
Are we going to talk about refugees? Nope, but we will talk about immigration as a whole.
And as a general note: don’t mess with the ocean …. or unapproved water vessels.
The Global Population Is Declining
Everyone has heard of the Baby Boomers. The people who can be attributed to the massive population growth directly following the Second World War. As well as their kids, Generation X, who serve as an extension of the peaceful times, nuclear family, economic growth, and make up 25% of the working population.
But believe it or not, the US population growth rate has been on a decline ever since that peak. And there’s no signs of it stopping.
Now, you may be thinking this is good. It’ll be better for the climate, could combat some of the food shortages, and all the other good stuff. And you’d be right.
But where things start to get hairy is in economics and industry, and we all know that the money drives everything else. Baby Boomers and Gen X make up a large majority of the working population. And there isn’t enough of the rest of us to fill their shoes, which means we could be in some trouble.
A lot of global economic models rely on growth (businesses get bigger, need more people so on and so forth), and technology can only compensate for so much manpower.
Long story short, the largest population in the working class that drives entire global economies is about to retire, leaving us at a huge labor deficit.
Some Controversial Solutions
Unless I’m missing something there are really only two solutions: have more kids or start recruiting people from elsewhere to prop up your own economy (aka immigration).
Having more kids is an obvious answer, but the only flaw is they couldn’t enter the workforce for another 20 or so years – potentially solving a today problem, tomorrow. Considered by some to be too little, too late.
Immigration is already a controversial subject everywhere, so when you see suggestions to increase immigration your first thought is likely “oh boy, here we go”. I’ll admit, this is where I usually tune out.
But after giving it more thought, the solution makes sense. By increasing immigration, you are essentially recruiting people who are “work-ready” to replace those Baby Boomers and Gen Xers who are departing.
Of course, illegal immigration is a whole other topic, and this would apply to legal immigration but in general immigration could be a viable option to fill that deficit I made mention to earlier.
Canada Caught On Early
Canadians are known for being nice, but they may just also be making a name for being smart.
The Canadian government has set a goal of adding 500,000 residents per year in order to help it’s economy by keeping it young. And they’ve done just that, adding over a million residents, by politely inviting foreign, workers, students, and refugees (maybe even the 750 on that boat) to come on over.
They’ve received so many applications, that they’re also able be selective in admitting the most employable folks by considering potential immigrants’ age, language skills, and education.
Canada’s immigration application is starting to look more like a college app, than an app for citizenship.
But Canada Also Has It Easy
But we can’t give the Canadians all the credit because they also have the best border security and don’t struggle with nearly the same levels of illegal immigration activity. Canada only shares a land border with the US and maritime borders with Greenland, and let’s be honest I don’t see Americans dying to get up there.
Only sharing borders with other highly developed countries means that Canada doesn’t have to worry about border security at all, really. Whereas the US battles with immigrants fleeing Mexico, and some of out European allies battle with immigration from their several underdeveloped neighbors.
Off The Bench
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Final Thoughts
It should be interesting to see whether there is a narrative shift on immigration in the next 20 or so years when much of the workforce retires and we will be forced to find replacement labor.
America has always been known as the “land of opportunity”, so it will be interesting to see what happens if we ever do have to “sell” people on moving here.
Maybe they will cross out “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” on the Statue of Liberty and write “Give me the best of the best, we need the best workers.”
I predict legal immigration will be viewed under a much different light moving forward, with the polarization around illegal immigration and refugees remaining.
Let’s have ourselves a weekend!
from, matt
