David Foot Population Growth Summary

817 Words4 Pages
Chapter Summary for Population Growth by David K. Foot According to Foot, “Canada’s population is aging: over the past 50 years, the median age of Canadians has risen from 27.2 to 38.8” (181). However, population aging as a demographic trend is affecting countries world wide, not just Canada. A couple of sectoral challenges that Foot listed were that, an aging population can result in a reduced share of education and an increased share of health care in regards to Canada’s economic output, and population aging can also be felt within business sectors in the form of a shift. In order to form an integrated framework for the analyzing the consequences of population aging on social choice and economic performance, Foot tied in two relevant theories.…show more content…
It also provides a link between population growth and population aging. The “current demographic transition theory identifies four stages of population and economic development” (Foot, 188), those of which a population transitions through over time. Stage one, in a preindustrial society, a population has both a high birth rate and high death rate, resulting in slow production growth. In stage two, there is a reduction in death rates due to improved health conditions, resulting in increased population growth. In stage three, there is a decreased birth rate due to increased education, resulting in slower population growth. When a population reaches stage four there are low death, birth, and population growth rates as a result of good living conditions and good education. Canada is currently transitioning between stages three and four in which, it has below-replacement fertility and population aging, and as a result, an increasing death…show more content…
Foot analyzed the current immigration policy in Canada and workforce policies in Canada. He pointed out that there is no linking of the age structure of immigrants with that of the Canadian population, and stated that, “the immigration level (or rate) should not be increased substantially until the middle of the 2010s, to enable the echo generation to become established in the workforce” (Foot, 201). This was based on the ideal that, by this time, the declining birth rate of the 1990s would reduce workforce growth and increase labour market shortages, resulting in a reduced employment rate. Foot also felt that it might be useful to implement a flexible policy of phased retirement for the baby boomers, in which aging employees would gradually reduce their workweek from five days to one, or go on half-salary or work part-time. Foot argued that flexible workplace policies are likely to be a success as they have the “ additional advantage of facilitating workforce renewal, since a half-salary saved on an older worker could be used to hire a younger, echo generation worker full-time with no increase in total salary bill” (205). He also felt that this policy would allow for cross-generational mentoring between older and younger workers. Another key policy change that Foot proposed was the establishment of an optional private pension plan that “would
Show More
Related

  • External Environment Analysis: Arthur Andersen & Co.: Administrative Accounting

    9236 Words  | 37 Pages

    Executive summary In this report I seek to perform multiple analyses on Accenture as a business entity that uses its unique set of resources, activities and capabilities that forms the basis of firm’s strategy. For this I have done the External environment analysis, internal environment analysis, SWOT analysis, competitor analysis. Also how it has tackled the dynamic external/internal environmental conditions effectively and its response to it and how Accenture has been able to decide on its strategies

    Read More

More about David Foot Population Growth Summary

Open Document