When will it become a good thing for us not to have to slave away for some corporation every day of our lives until death?
this post was submitted on 12 Oct 2023
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hey hey this is going too far. We could just make it mandatory to have at least four children to get more than minimum wage and put the children in the company Kindergarden where they can already ~~work a bit~~ ehh learn practical skills that improve their chances on the labor market as adults.
Good news! Brussels, and most of Europe, will be decent spots for migrants trying to escape the equatorial regions due to climate change.
Depends a bit on what happens to the ocean currents. It might get a lot colder in Europe if the gulf stream collapses.
Those immigrants can help feed the elderly. Problem solved!
"FUCK! FUCK LIKE THERE'S NO TOMORROW!"
Climate Doomer Millenials and Zoomers: "WE ARE!"
improving work-life balance
aaaaand now we know nothing will be done.
(until doing work becomes worth it and doesn't take over your life and until the power is with the employees and bosses have to treat workers with respect, there will not be more children. governments do nothing to support people with families. paternity / maternity leave is a joke, childcare costs are astronomical, both parents have to work...it's bonkers that this is normalised and in some ways I'm glad birthrates are going down, as scaring our slave-drivers with potentially reduced profits is the only way anything will ever change and they can't do anything about it EXCEPT concede some freedom to the workers)
Last time I checked we had a massive overconsumption of basicly all resources in the EU, so a slower economy is hardly a massive problem. Even more so since labour shortages strengthen the workers against the company owners. So the rich get less, while the poor at least have a stable income. The best thing we can do, is to lower expensive imports of fossil fuels. Especially from dictatorships.
Also this is not just a European problem. All continents besides Africa have a fertility rate below replacement today. Europe is able to attract migrants, due to the still high quality of life, so we have much less of a problem, then say China.
Brussels also says it is "crucial to empower older workers to remain active for longer" through upskilling programmes and flexible working hours, and urges businesses to overcome "preconceived notions and stereotypes" about the elderly.
When France bumped the retirement age up to 64, it made a lot of people go nuts. An increase is gonna require some political capital.
It is also peak neoliberalism. We are richer than ever yet people are supposed to work until they are in their grave. God forbid we'd fairly tax wealth and inheritance creating a society where everyone can live in decency.
Sadly not all people are like the French. Other countries already raised the retirement age several times over the last decades and the people did nothing to stop their governments.
Yeah also driving older folks to stay in the job pool longer is at odds with getting younger people to start families. It puts negative pressure on wages and reduces the number of available jobs. Huge part of why people aren't having kids is that it's expensive as shit.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
These are some of the disquieting findings from a new report on demographic change released by the European Commission on Wednesday, which paints an alarming picture of the profound societal and economic transformation triggered by a shrinking workforce.
The drastic shift in the demographic pyramid will upend the labour market, with widespread shortages that could inhibit growth, productivity and innovation rates, and therefore accelerate loss of competitiveness vis-à-vis other major economies.
A dwindling workforce will inevitably reduce revenue for state coffers while piling additional pressure on public budgets to spend more on healthcare and pensions, an explosive combination that could divert attention away from the much-needed investments in renewable energy and cutting-edge technologies.
Before the damage becomes irreversible, the Commission recommends member states take decisive action, such as closing the gender pay gap, improving work-life balance, offering tax benefits, reducing childcare costs, and making it easier for young people to access quality jobs and affordable housing earlier in their adult lives.
Brussels also says it is "crucial to empower older workers to remain active for longer" through upskilling programmes and flexible working hours, and urges businesses to overcome "preconceived notions and stereotypes" about the elderly.
The bloc, which is in the midst of a hard-fought push to reform its asylum policy, received last year 3 million migrant workers via legal pathways compared to 300,000 who arrived through irregular means.
The original article contains 567 words, the summary contains 227 words. Saved 60%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!