by Tom Griffiths
Much of the recently reignited population debate (“Population Policy A Pyramid” article by Terry McCrann of the Australian, and “Inane words from Julia, poor policy from Tony” from the West’s Shane Wright) has excluded two of the concepts most crucial to the issue.
There has been no analysis of the quality of employment that needs to be generated for the future population to produce real economic development outcomes. Sure, economic growth can occur with only population-driven employment; however it will only be in proportion to further growth in that population, and it will not yield real productivity gains for the economy.
McCrann asks valid questions about how many jobs are needed and how they will be generated, but he falls short of asking the real question about the quality of jobs that need to be generated for a future population and for sustainable economic growth.
Secondly, we need to understand how the non-productive components of a future population will pay for themselves. The developed world’s aging population will require investment in new supporting infrastructure (e.g. hospitals) – infrastructure that should have been planned for over and provided the past twenty years. Should tax funds from a decreasingly small productive population base be spent on infrastructure to support a previous generation’s needs?
Terry McCrann article:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/opinion/population-policy-a-national-pyramid-scheme/story-e6frg9if-1225896291035
Shane Wright’s article:
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/opinion/post/-/blog/theburningissue/post/1201/comment/1/
