Reply #12: Immigration will more than compensate.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

A relatively aging populace does mean that all things being equal there will be fewer people in the domestically generated labor force going forward but since there are millions of people--some highly qualified--waiting to come here to join our labor force...

No factory will be idled for lack of labor.

If such a situation is looming business will ensure more immigration.

There may be places where demographics will cause actual workforce problems but this isn't one of them.

Dr. Bluestone is identifying a real effect, but one that will most likely never result in a labor shortage. It's like saying that the temperature in someone's apartment will become intolerably cold in the winter because temperatures go down a lot during the winter.

In the real world the tennant will turn on the heat at some point and adjust it on a day-by-day or hour-by-hour basis based on whatever she considers tolerable.

That said, it is useful to know that it gets cold in the winter. I have no problem with noting the effect, but extrapolating a shortage is a static exercise.