Birth-rate triumphs fail to solve industries’ immediate labor needs

Evidence

A few European countries have witnessed a recent slight rise in their birthrates. The German minister of family affairs reported that the baby boomlet “filled me with delight” (Stinson, 2007). The basis for her joy is puzzling, to say the least. It takes many years, with substantial familial costs and hard work coupled with extensive societal resources, to grow babies into adult workers. Not all of them turn out well. As Mother Nature becomes harsher, many of them may end up as environmental activists! To achieve continual economic growth, industries need workers now, not 20 years hence, so they have to import them rather than waiting for the homegrown ones to mature. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2639

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Gibes with ‘On Sacrifice’ theme: here the state values babies as future workers, yet the time-lag undermines the economic rationale — a darker inversion of nurturance as investment.