The labor force is the number of people ages 16 or older who are either working or looking for work. It does not include active-duty military personnel or the institutionalized population, such as prison inmates. Determining the size of the labor force is a way of determining how big the economy can get. The size of the labor force depends on two…

This paper discusses recent histories of labor shortages in Singapore, Japan, and several western European countries. Emphasis is upon the economic effects of severe shortages of labor. Fearing that these shortages would seriously handicap further economic progress, many people in these countries have advocated large-scale immigration or increased…