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Japan has one of the lowest birthrates in the world. This is inevitable as demand from the elderly outpaces young people to fulfill it.

• onion2k 9y ago
  Presumably though, as tax revenue falls due to citizens retiring, that will lead to more privatization of services as the government won't have the money to buy them, and a consequential push towards automation as service providers try to lower costs. If automation happens quickly enough it's not outside the realms of possibility that Japan's aging population could lead to fewer jobs in some sectors.
  • toomuchtodo 9y ago
    > that will lead to more privatization of services as the government won't have the money to buy them, Governments can be funded by their central banks printing money. > and a consequential push towards automation as service providers try to lower costs. Governments can put that same automation in place to provide services with no profit motive.
  • mathattack 9y ago
    This is a lot of automation. :-) When you have 1.46 births per Mom [0] you are effectively automating a quarter of the jobs. On the surface this seems achievable, but generally automation winds up creating new needs. (The advent of tractors meant farmers were more productive, and other jobs wound up absorbing hte workers) [0] https://www.google.com/search?q=japanese+birth+rate&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS568US569&oq=japanese+birth+rate&aqs=chrome.0.0l6.2328j0j1&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 https://www.google.com/search?q=japanese+birth+rate&rlz=1C5C...