Older, affluent countries are NOT running out of workers
28-Aug-14, Global Demographics
A comment often made about the countries in Western Europe and the more Affluent parts of Asia (particularly Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan) is that, unless they either increase their birth rates or accept (young) immigrants, they will not have enough workers to support their aged (and presumably retired) population.
This view is based on quite simplistic analysis. It assumes people work between ages 15 and 64 and then retire. This approach does not take into account the significant increase in propensity to work beyond age 64 and the increased participation of females in these workforces. Adjusting for these trends shows that these countries have more than enough workers. In fact the proportion of the population in work hardly changes over the next two decades.