Business, work and demography
Companies are dealing with a new constraint affecting production plans and their development
Businesses are grappling with demographics. This new issue has forced itself into manufacturing organisations’ strategic thinking and is a factor that any prudent production philosophy must take into account.
Demographer Francesco Billari has written a slim volume (just over a hundred pages) on the subject, which serves as a starting point to grasp what is at play. The author begins with an observation. The “demographic winter” and the “brain drain” are terms used so frequently that even the most optimistic now seem resigned to the phenomena: in a few decades, Italy will be a country where over-65s account for around one third of a declining population. Billari, however, explains how demography is not pre-destined, but rather a science that helps us not only to interpret the great changes taking place in the world, but above all to take action to control them. This provides the foundation for the argument he develops over the course of the book.
Billari helps the reader observe possible future scenarios through a demographic lens, an approach that is suitable for understanding how today’s decisions – in politics, the economy and society – can influence the future of Italy and its social and manufacturing backbone. The book also provides a glimpse of what is happening in other countries, particularly those with low fertility rates and an ageing population.
In this way, the author’s perspective on the country and its future is filtered through his science, as he shares policies and proposals for reversing the crisis on several fronts: genuinely inclusive schooling, a welfare system that is more focused on the needs of families, housing policy that helps the youngest and better management (and integration) of migration.
Viewed in more detail, Billari’s diagnosis – based on a large body of data – shows that structural change, that is, genuine reforms, are urgently needed in at least three areas: schooling; housing autonomy for university students and young people in general; immigration, and integration into the country of first and second generations. In other fields too a major change of direction is required: the birth rate and family, universities, the labour market, digitalisation and adult education, health and climate change.
Because, as Billari concludes, demographic trends “are not inescapable”.
Domani è oggi. Costruire il futuro con le lenti della demografia (Tomorrow is Today. Building the Future Through the Lens of Demography)
Francesco Billari
Egea, 2023
Companies are dealing with a new constraint affecting production plans and their development
Businesses are grappling with demographics. This new issue has forced itself into manufacturing organisations’ strategic thinking and is a factor that any prudent production philosophy must take into account.
Demographer Francesco Billari has written a slim volume (just over a hundred pages) on the subject, which serves as a starting point to grasp what is at play. The author begins with an observation. The “demographic winter” and the “brain drain” are terms used so frequently that even the most optimistic now seem resigned to the phenomena: in a few decades, Italy will be a country where over-65s account for around one third of a declining population. Billari, however, explains how demography is not pre-destined, but rather a science that helps us not only to interpret the great changes taking place in the world, but above all to take action to control them. This provides the foundation for the argument he develops over the course of the book.
Billari helps the reader observe possible future scenarios through a demographic lens, an approach that is suitable for understanding how today’s decisions – in politics, the economy and society – can influence the future of Italy and its social and manufacturing backbone. The book also provides a glimpse of what is happening in other countries, particularly those with low fertility rates and an ageing population.
In this way, the author’s perspective on the country and its future is filtered through his science, as he shares policies and proposals for reversing the crisis on several fronts: genuinely inclusive schooling, a welfare system that is more focused on the needs of families, housing policy that helps the youngest and better management (and integration) of migration.
Viewed in more detail, Billari’s diagnosis – based on a large body of data – shows that structural change, that is, genuine reforms, are urgently needed in at least three areas: schooling; housing autonomy for university students and young people in general; immigration, and integration into the country of first and second generations. In other fields too a major change of direction is required: the birth rate and family, universities, the labour market, digitalisation and adult education, health and climate change.
Because, as Billari concludes, demographic trends “are not inescapable”.
Domani è oggi. Costruire il futuro con le lenti della demografia (Tomorrow is Today. Building the Future Through the Lens of Demography)
Francesco Billari
Egea, 2023