Since the start of the new year, I've noticed a greater number of articles related to 'population decline'…I assume this is a result of the changing global climate, with its toll on economic issues for young families going forward (the cost of raising children)…I direct your attention to this link, below, addressing China's changing demographics…this does not seem to be a problem in India, which is projected to take the 'prize' of most populous state…there was another article that made mention of the conservative family values in India: that if more women were allowed into the workforce (given access to more educational opportunities), the Indian economy would/could/should expand by 60%(!) [depending on source; unfortunately, I can't find the article where I saw this statistic]…unfortunately, this increase in education for women portends fewer women having children, curtailing future growth…the graph below was part of an article discussing how hard it has been for the French government to shore up its pension obligations…Macron wants to change the age of retirement from 62 to 64, which doesn't sound draconian, but is causing crippling strikes across France…as the population ages, there are fewer workers to fund pensions…what to do?
Since Brexit, businesses in England have found it harder to find employees; EU citizens working in the UK were 'kicked-out' and there aren't enough native workers, at least, not enough wanting to do the work that the 'others' were doing…I had a conversation with a young Hungarian woman (I'd say in her mid-20's) on a plane-ride from England a few years ago, who was returning home on holiday…she was one of those workers, at her job at a pizza joint in London, hoping to save enough to attend college…she mentioned how she made 'much more' there, than in Hungary (and also said she would definitely return home for said education).
There are, of course, plenty of people who would gladly take those jobs…Europe has the same problem as the U.S.: too many economic/climate refugees looking for a better life…the challenge is to create an orderly process of absorbing them…getting over our fear of the 'other,' doing the hard work of weeding out the 'chaff' from the 'grain,' to paraphrase the Bible…our Christian duty?
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please add to the adventure!