Long-term Labour Shortage. The Economic Impact of Population Transition and Post-Industrialism on the OECD Countries: the Nordic Case

Authors

• Perttu Salmenhaara

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23979/fypr.45049

Keywords:

population ageing, 2005-2050, societal and macro-economic impacts, OECD, Nordic countries

Abstract

This paper presents a survey of results about studies on ageing. The data is collected
from population projections by the United Nations, OECD, the European Union and
the Eurostat.The research question is how population ageing affects the percentage
of the working age population in the OECD. Special focus countries are the Nordic
countries. The method is to collect together comparable data from these previous
studies. The results imply that from 2005 to 2050 the number of the elderly in relation
to the working-age population is projected to increase radically. Most advanced
national economies are likely to have problems in providing elderly care services
and pensions. In addition, post-industrialisation and ethnic discrimination add to
the problem by excluding a fair share of the working-age population from the labour
market.