ABSTRACT
In contrast to “younger” immigration countries, such as the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and most of the BRIC countries (Brazil, Rus sia, India and China), Europe (and almost any individual UNECE country, with a few notable exceptions - such as Turkey, Israel or countries in Central Asia) will have quite a dramatically shrinking labour supply over the next one or two genera tions. There will be upwards of 50 million fewer workers in the labour force in the EU-27 alone. The number of retirees per worker will rise sharply, and not only might population ageing induce shortages in labour, but it could also slow down economic growth and generate unsustainable deficits in public social spending.
