The new head of the U.N.'s migration agency said Monday that the private sector is “desperate” for their countries to take in migrants to mop up labor shortages, especially in the West — endeavoring to steer a narrative away from reticence and suspicion about migrants in many parts of the world.
Amy Pope, the first woman to head the International Organization for Migration, sought to play up the economic benefits of migration for rich nations with aging populations and declining workforces — in the face of “build-the-wall” rhetoric in the United States to block migrants from Latin America and right-wing movements in Europe that want to keep foreigners out.
”We hear from … the private sector globally, but especially in Europe and in North America, that they are desperate for migration in order to meet their own labor market needs and in order to continue to fuel innovation within their own companies,” Pope, who is American, told reporters.
She said the evidence was “fairly overwhelming” that migration benefits economies by filling jobs, powering innovation or “fueling the renovation or revitalization of aging communities.”
I wish countries would focus on increasing their native birthrates (because that’s a sign of deeper underlying problems in a society) rather than use immigration as a band-aid to fix labor shortage issues.
Why? If people want to be child free, let them. If people want to move to my country, let them
I wasn’t implying the government should force people to have kids. I meant improve conditions that makes it easier for families to raise kids.
How would you achieve that? And does it really matter if it’s “natives”?
On the other hand, does the world really need more people to support? Is it not better to let people move to where they are needed instead?