Unemployment at some 4.5% of the workforce, is at its lowest for a generation; labour-force participation, at just over 67%, is at a record high, thanks to the creation of 11m more jobs than there were five years ago; and still the nation's employers, whether they are selling software or hamburgers, complain they cannot get workers.Yet the argument is surely misleading.
That was the situation in Europe in the 1950s and in East Asia in the 1970s.But as the select generation enters the labour force, a country starts to benefit from a so-called "demographic dividend".
Rest of the World 94.00 − 385.61 − 2755 Total 361.07 275.70 15,668 Table 12 Additional labour force generation in different scenarios with USA (in thousand) Scenario 1 1.
Agricultural and unskilled 148.76 Total 957.94 Table 13 Additional labour force generation in different scenarios without USA (in thousand) Scenario 1 1.
FOR several decades after the second world war it was boomtime for Japan's economy as a new generation of workers entered the labour force.
"People working and living longer might make it more difficult for a new generation to get into the labour force or find houses," says Troyer.
More of these well-educated second- and third-generation young women enter the labour force each year.Meanwhile there is growing awareness of the problems faced by first-generation immigrants.
Households can fail, and there is a pressing need to probe deeply into whether Britain's households have access to the resources and stability required to develop the next generation to be productive members of the labour force.
For over a generation, financial prosperity in Europe as in the US has not depended on a robust labour force at home; the work that global corporations need can be done cheaper and often better elsewhere.
Authorities have begun to accept (much too late) the demographic downsides of maintaining a one-child quota: among them a shrinking labour force and an ageing population that will put a strain on a smaller generation of children and taxpayers.
Changes in labour force participation, home ownership, debt management, and family structure should be considered for future generations, as should development of increased capacity for financial literacy.
