Most welfare to work reforms in most countries set out with the aims of reducing welfare caseloads and boosting labour force participation, whether for lone or low-income parents, for the long-term unemployed or for other groups of welfare recipients.
But as yet there are not enough Dr Murakamis to help along the painful but necessary process of reform.The sooner the betterIn dealing with its demographic troubles, Japan will need a cultural revolution to improve productivity, boost its labour force with more women, older people and immigrants, promote a more vibrant domestic economy and make the most of booming markets overseas.
So while general education remains good, some industrial skills may be declining.One way to boost the skilled labour force might be to have rather more people working rather fewer hours.
In the BRICs and other fast-growing developing countries the gap is already narrowing.Employers too have reason to be grateful for the boost to their labour force from the extra women, not least because talented people are in short supply the world over.
Economic liberals say immigrants refresh the labour force, boost competitiveness and help provide the taxes to sustain middle-class entitlements.
There are two ways to boost it: by increasing labour productivity or by boosting the size of the labour force.
In a small way, the measures to cut German welfare benefits may help if they encourage more non-workers into the labour force and boost consumers' spending power.
Immigrants have a higher participation rate in the workforce than do native workers, which also helps boost their proportion of the labour force.
By making it easier for women to work, it boosts the size of the labour force.
Adding 1.5 billion people to the global labour force has boosted the return to capital and richly rewarded rich Westerners; but in Germany, Japan and the United States, real wages for the median worker have barely budged.
