As almost always you have got my brain juices going again. This is a topic I will write a post or even several posts about at some point because the reality is quite unexpected.

For starters having a larger workforce does not necessarily result in society being better off. This is because we have what we call a capital to labour ratio. This indicates the optimal amount of capital per person. If the workforce is too large we get inefficiency as the capital can not adequately support the workforce. The arguments made by Existential Comics about increasing number of workers putting pressure on wages is correct. Simple demand and supply. Higher the supply, lower the price (wages). It can also be argued that having a larger supply of workers creates pressure to improve the quality of the workforce. Only the best workers can climb the ladder. More likely, those that can play the system better can achieve more success.

Another thing we can look at is working hours vs. size of the workforce. It is possible to have a larger workforce that work the same hours as a smaller workforce. I prefer to look at hours worked. So many hours at work are wasted as workers are often just filling there 8 hour days with something when nothing needs to be done. If there is only 4 hours of work needed then work only 4 hours.

Little off topic but relevant to this discussion

The statistics imply that it is easier for women to succeed in the workforce than 20+ years ago. Speaking from experience, the ceiling on the careers of particular types of women have been raised. There are many very competent women that are held back because their ideas do not align with the established male way of doing things. This is covered up the statistics that just simply show higher numbers of women climbing the ladder. Most women are unaware of this until they enter the workforce because it is not apparent. Men also have clever ways of excluding women from certain aspects of work so that they do not get the opportunities to climb the ladder.