The  absolute increase in the world’s working age population (i.e. men and women aged 15-64) will be approximately 900 million people over the next 2 decades. Sounds a lot, but the increase over the previous 2 decades was 1.3 billion*. Implications? Assuming an economic recovery, one key consequence will be severe skills shortages with a significant power shift away from the employer to the employee.

* US Census Bureau figures.