Superfreak
Verified User
I'm fine with importing skill sets in the short term, but I would make those special visas time-bounded, such that at a particular point you not only couldn't retain the imported worker, but you couldn't import a new worker with that skill set. That would give the public and private sector an incentive to train up native-born workers to fill those niches before the stop-gap measure expired. For example, if we have too few people with training in high-temperature engineering to meet the demand because of some hot new technology, let companies here bring in workers for the next three years to staff those positions, but after that, they don't get those special visas for high-temperature engineers. So, they'll have an incentive to pay for continuing education for their native-born engineers to build those skills, or an incentive to finance scholarships or to pressure the government to do so, to fill that need with native workers.
Regarding the dependency ratio, here you go:
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.DPND.OL
https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docse...est&checksum=6CDF85AC451C8203C7DCC5874FD27453
As you can see, even with the Millennials, we're projected to go from an old-age dependency ratio of 24.6% in 2015 to one of 40.3 in three decades (when most of the Millennials will still be working age). In the 1970s through 1990s, we were under 20%.
I am not seeing how they get that calculation of 40.3 in 3 decades. The Boomer generation will mostly be dead. My generation will be in the 65+ category. The front edge of the millenials will be as well. But the bulk of the echo boomers will still be working as you mentioned. It should plummet for a decade or so based on my generation. What happens when Echo boomers hit will depend largely on the number of kids they and their kids have. With our replacement rate hovering just below 2, there could be a problem, assuming advanced technologies and efficiencies don't compensate.