Researchers at the Fed and the IMF have estimated that a stronger jobs market could boost the labour-force participation rate by as much as 0.75 of a percentage point, which is equivalent to about 1.9m workers.
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.
Immigrants have a higher participation rate in the workforce than do native workers, which also helps boost their proportion of the labour force.
There are two ways to boost it: by increasing labour productivity or by boosting the size of the labour force.
By making it easier for women to work, it boosts the size of the labour force.
It is more probable that productivity finally begins to rise in earnest after a long slump, enabling steady growth in Britons' real wages.But given the euro area's current economic problems, the best bet may be that rising real wages in Britain attract a steady and growing flow of workers from Europe, boosting the size of the labour force as well as the numbers employed.
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.
Economic liberals say immigrants refresh the labour force, boost competitiveness and help provide the taxes to sustain middle-class entitlements.
However, a five-year plan introduced in 2000 to boost significantly the number of Qataris in the labour force fell far short of its goals.
It is arriving fast in Europe and America, and soon after that will reach East Asia.A demographic dividend tends to boost economic growth because a large number of working-age adults increases the labour force, keeps wages relatively low, boosts savings and increases demand for goods and services.
This meant they reaped their so-called "demographic dividend" first (this is the economic boost that comes when the size of the labour force rises relative to the rest of the population).
