America needs more immigrants to keep economy growing (labor shortage) [View all]

[IronLionZion]

https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/27/investing/david-kelly-markets-now-preview/index.html

New York (CNN Business)Tariffs and the trade war with China are the biggest near-term financial problems facing the United States. But one market expert thinks the United States needs to focus on a longer-term issue if it wants to remain on top of the world's economic heap: immigration.

David Kelly, chief global strategist with JPMorgan Funds, argued in his most recent weekly report that America could soon face a big labor shortage as more baby boomers reach retirement age. There aren't enough younger people currently to replace them.
He said that many people, including members of the Trump administration, are focusing too much on trying to find ways to stimulate more demand via tax cuts and calls for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates.

But Kelly thinks the biggest looming problem for the United States is about the supply of people in America that are of working age and able to keep spending.

Unless America adds more younger people to the labor force, Kelly argues that any tax cuts or other stimulus would be "more pointless than a fast car in a big city."

"There is an obsession with how to stimulate demand, with fiscal policy, monetary policy and currency policy all being deployed to rev up the economic engine," Kelly wrote. "However, America is facing a demographic pothole, and unless we fill it, growth will be mediocre, at best, regardless of how we try to stoke demand."

Kelly recommended some short-term fixes to help fill the demographic pothole. He suggested making three-year undergraduate college degrees more available to students and delaying eligibility for Medicare benefits to retirees by one year until the age of 66.
But those proposals would also be controversial. That's why boosting immigration makes the most sense.

This job market should be great news for any DUers who are job hunting. My company has been hiring lots of inexperienced people and training them up. People with the right experience and skills have lots of bargaining power for higher wages or better benefits like telework days and relocation reimbursement. I have a coworker who asked for and got 3 work from home days a week so she can deal with her kids, and she lives in the same suburb where we work.