"lacking unshown meddling by Celest-A.I., a reduction in the population available to perform badly-paid, unsatisfying jobs would lead to employers offering higher wages and better conditions for those choosing not to "emigrate". This is what happens in the real world after a major war or a plague."
Firstly, this strikes me as wrong because the main issue is a severe lack of people. While it is true that employers would be forced to offer better deals due to the large amount of jobs now available, the economic realities surrounding several jobs impose limits on what can be offered.
For example, for a restaurant to be able to pay its waiters a very high wage it would have to charge extremely high prices and so be unviable as a business, since people are not going to spend thousands for a simple meal. The result: the business fails and the owner almost certainly decides to emigrate to avoid all the problems and stress involved. That person is not going to re-enter the work force and take a new essential job such as operating a power plant.
Secondly, many jobs require training and the chain reaction caused by people emigrating will lead to others to emigrate as well, making it even harder to convince people to stick around long to take those jobs.
Thirdly, the economy would become very unstable as people emigrate and the population drops, a lot of people default on debt, and the assets backing that debt such as property dramatically reduce in value. Not to mention there'd be a liquidity crisis as money stops circulating.
Ultimately yes, if the population were to remain stable then the essential jobs would get filled, but we're looking at a rapidly declining population, not a stable or growing one such as that seen in a post-war environment.
I've removed the Artistic License – Economics entry, which I'll include below:
"lacking unshown meddling by Celest-A.I., a reduction in the population available to perform badly-paid, unsatisfying jobs would lead to employers offering higher wages and better conditions for those choosing not to "emigrate". This is what happens in the real world after a major war or a plague."
Firstly, this strikes me as wrong because the main issue is a severe lack of people. While it is true that employers would be forced to offer better deals due to the large amount of jobs now available, the economic realities surrounding several jobs impose limits on what can be offered.
For example, for a restaurant to be able to pay its waiters a very high wage it would have to charge extremely high prices and so be unviable as a business, since people are not going to spend thousands for a simple meal. The result: the business fails and the owner almost certainly decides to emigrate to avoid all the problems and stress involved. That person is not going to re-enter the work force and take a new essential job such as operating a power plant.
Secondly, many jobs require training and the chain reaction caused by people emigrating will lead to others to emigrate as well, making it even harder to convince people to stick around long to take those jobs.
Thirdly, the economy would become very unstable as people emigrate and the population drops, a lot of people default on debt, and the assets backing that debt such as property dramatically reduce in value. Not to mention there'd be a liquidity crisis as money stops circulating.
Ultimately yes, if the population were to remain stable then the essential jobs would get filled, but we're looking at a rapidly declining population, not a stable or growing one such as that seen in a post-war environment.