Local retailer and geopolitical expert point to the need to capture international talent
An adaptive immigration strategy can help countries navigate the challenges of aging populations, and shrinking pools of local talent.
A Bermuda retail leader, and a geopolitical expert, appear to agree on this.
Stefano Moritsch, Global Geopolitics Lead at KPMG International, spoke at the Chamber of Commerce Annual General Meeting yesterday.
He said, “the biggest generation that we’ve had since World War two, baby boomers one and two, will all retire in the next 5 to 10 years…”
The nature of international trade is changing, Mr Moritsch advised, with more countries adopting protectionist policies, regional tensions affecting shipping routes, and concerns over cybersecurity.
All this is happening alongside a global demographic decline, and Mr Moritsch says how jurisdictions manage their borders may determine how they weather the grey storm.
“We have the rise of populist migration policies in a large part of the world”, Mr Moritsch said.
“Countries that can identify the talent pools of the future, and can adjust their immigration policy strategy to ensure that they can capture the talent of the future, will be better placed than the ones that will not be able to do so.”
Ahead of the Chamber AGM, we spoke to Mr Moritsch and Tony Thompson, CEO of Gibbons and Chair of the Chamber’s Retail Division.
The Chamber recently published estimates that our population has fallen by 10% since 2016.
“The population drop is a real thing”, said Mr Thompson. “When there’s less people paying into the pool, whatever that pool is, that means that each individual person is going to have to pay that much more.”
“The cost of operations has continued to go up.”
Mr Thompson said our approach to technology and immigration is key in addressing labour shortages.
He continues, “A.I. over the last two years has become really, really important for companies… utilising jobs that, maybe, they used to have people doing those functions before, and we can’t find them simply because they’re not readily on the island.”
“Re-looking at our immigration policies… there are there are countries out there who are really lobbying to get more people to, to their countries.”
“We need to do the same as well. We need to increase our talent pool in Bermuda.”
