The rich world is in the midst of an unprecedented migration boom. Last year 3.3m more people moved to America than left, almost four times typical levels in the 2010s. Canada took in 1.9m immigrants. Britain welcomed 1.2m people and Australia 740,000. In each country the number was greater than ever before. For Australia and Canada net migration is more than double pre-covid levels. In Britain the intake is 3.5 times that of 2019. Economist
It has been long-known that increasing the population is a cheat’s way of improving the GDP, and giving governments something positive to point to. However, the GDP is failing metric, and the populace are working that out. More so when it is pointed out that all the countries above having a declining GDP per capita. In the retail world, opening more stores won’t fool investors if the per-store revenue is dropping.
Even Japan is doing it, although stealthily. The number of foreign workers in Japan has quadrupled since 2008, reaching the 2M mark last year. This is happening in places that are common in other countries, like convenience stores. In the Konbinis of Japan, 9% of the workforce are foreigners, but it is as high as 50% in some 7-Eleven stores in major cities (Economist).