Originally Posted by woj

I don't agree, I don't think it's a reliable indicator of anything, I still think it's impossible to draw any conclusions...

one society where everyone retires at 60 would have lower employment ratio, than society where everyone retires at 70... same can be said about society where everyone is spending half their life getting PhDs instead of working... same can be said about society where money is easily made, so one person can easily support 5 family members... same can be said about societies where it's taboo or perhaps even illegal for women to work, etc...

so comparing different societies, or time periods and then concluding that low "employment-population ratio" means "jobs are not available" is a bit flawed...