> 1. Demographic changes means more retirees, and smaller workforce. Literally less people to go around. A small point, but I think what you meant to say here

> 1. Demographic changes means more retirees, and smaller workforce. Literally less people to go around. A small point, but I think what you meant to say here is that there's a greater ratio of retired to employed people than there used to be, which is somewhat different than what you stated. That said, I think this idea that we necessarily need some incredible amount of low-skill immigration to cover some drastic understaffing is bullshit propaganda put out to achieve bad wages and treatment of workers through basic supply and demand (drastically increasing the supply of labor). Technical innovations such as self-checkout lines and great security cameras and other tools of the modern age mean that you need fewer workers to do the same work. As I think others have pointed out, the unemployment rate figures can be massaged in a lot of ways to be misleading. Actual wages should be the stat that tells you whether or not the workforce is too small. If wages are dropping or stagnant versus inflation, then claims of low unemployment should be considered laughable because otherwise wages would be increasing.