May
Like so many other European countries Sweden needs to tackle the realities of demography: The population is ageing and too few people work. Last year every working individual in the country supported 1.44 individuals who were not part of the workforce and that figure will continue to grow.
There is great awareness of this and in a new report from The Ministry of Finance the researchers investigate which groups that could potentially be more strongly represented on the labour market. Their conclusion is that the most important groups are:
- Young people (16-24)
- Older people (55+)
- Women
- Immigrants
My obvious reflection is that if these insights lead to actual changes we will get greater diversity in terms of age, gender, culture and ethnicity and according to The Medici Effect diversity drives innovation. Consequently the shift that is suggested in the report will not only solve the quantitative problems of demography – it will also have a qualitative impact on the economy. A greater mix will generate creativity, innovation, business and welfare and therefore I see this as another opportunity to argue that immigration is beneficial for Sweden (or for any other country).
/Kristian Ribberström
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We might disagree on some issues but on the issue of immigration we seem to be in perfect agreement.
People who come here do not make us unemployed. Supplying is demanding since the only reason to supply is that supplying is a way to obtain the means necessary to demand goods and services.
Supply does not only create demand; it is in fact demand.
To say that the number of inhabitants of one country is too large to allow full employment is therefore tantamount to saying that demand for goods and services is too large to allow full employment!
Well written post. I hope a lot of people read it and learn from it.